INDIANA UNIVERSITY PURDUE UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS

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For the Health of It

Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) students, working under the direction of IU physicians and faculty, organized and sponsored a health fair October 20, at the Westside Community Health Center.

"The fair gives us the opportunity to apply our education and, more importantly, serve the community and to better learn the needs of patients," says fair organizer Amanda Myers, a fourth-year medical student. "The Westside center was selected because it is an area that largely is medically underserved, but has active community leadership to encourage residents to take advantage of what we have to offer."

Students assisted IUSM faculty and staff physicians to provide free screenings for blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes and colon cancer in adults. Vision and hearing screenings were offered to children. Also, free information about breast and skin cancer, osteoporosis, exercise and diet, weight loss, prostate problems, dental hygiene and other health topics was distributed to visitors.

Students from the IU schools of dentistry and allied health science also joined the medical students in proving screenings and other services. While the medical students and their counterparts in other schools were on the giving end, they also reap benefits, notes Palmer MacKie, MD, MS, clinical assistant professor of medicine. "Standard medical practice is good for setting bones and writing prescriptions, but I think that students discover that people and communities have different needs and different voices."

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