Community members recently has the opportunity to attend a Free Health Screening Clinic held at St. Bernard's Parish in Akron. The screening was sponsored by the SOAR Student Run Free Clinic.
The event was run by an interprofessional blend of volunteers, including medicine students, undergraduate students from the University of of Akron, nurses, physicians, professors and interpreters. NEOMED's OutReach and Ophthalmology Interest Group provided body mass index (BMI), cholesterol, blood glucose, blood pressure, vision and glaucoma screenings. UA's Certificate of Advanced Spanish for the Health Professions and First Responder students, assisted in translating for the large Spanish-speaking population at St. Bernard's Parish.
The Summit County Health Department, Alcohol, Drug Addition and Mental Health Services Board, Summit County Job and Family Services and Akron Canton Regional Foodbank had booths that provided attendants more information about their services, an opportunity to enroll in Medicare and/or Medicaid and application assistance for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
If a screening test raised concern, attendants were directed to a booth to learn more about their results from a NEOMED faculty physician. Physical exams were offered by Dr. Teresa Wurst. Each attendant was provided community resources where they could receive follow up care. Some attendants had who had recently arrived in the United States from Venezuela, El Salvador and Mexico had not yet been connected to healthcare resources because they were unsure of where to look.
The Free Health Screening Clinic was made possible by co-coordinators, Andrew Baek (M3) and Haley Coleman (M3), with the help of volunteer recruiter, Jaya Sai Varre (M2), community coordinator, Bricey Kepnes (pre-med), and SOAR’s clinic chief of November, Neha Chavali (M4). Thank you to OutReach and Ophthalmology Interest Group volunteers, Dr. Lora Wyss, Dr. Teresa Wurst and Dr. Sanjeev Dewan. Also thanks to University of Akron students and professors Dr. Parizad Dejbord-Sawan and Dr. Courtney Benjamin.