Geoffrey Hancy, a fourth-year medical student at USA and AOA president of the USA chapter, said the event was a success with approximately 150-200 Bayou La Batre residents attending.
The health fair provided basic health screenings - measuring blood pressure, glucose, and body mass index - and distributed medical material and counseling.
“A large number of third and fourth-year medical students, along with the AOA students and members of the USA College of Medicine faculty turned out to help and participate in the care of the Bayou La Batre residents,” Hancy said.
Each year, members of the honor society choose a community service project. This year, the organization at USA chose a service project along Alabama’s Gulf Coast - providing assistance to one of the communities most affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster.
During the past several months, AOA medical students and faculty at USA garnered participation from their classmates, nursing students and allied health students at USA. USA students and members of the organizing committee enlisted participants from USA’s medical alumni, area private physicians, health service organizations and volunteers.
“It is important for medical students to be involved with service projects like this one,” Hancy said. “We have been given an opportunity to pursue a great career, and participating in these kinds of events helps remind us of the good we can do for a community.”
Hancy said there are plans to make the health fair an annual event sponsored by the USA chapter of AOA. “It may not always be held in the same community,” he said, “but it will be the same event each year held in a local community that is in need of such services.”
The Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society is a national honor society for medical students, residents, scientists and physicians in the United States and Canada. The organization promotes scholarship and research in medical schools, the encouragement of a high standard of character and conduct among medical students and graduates, and the recognition of high attainment in medical science, practice and related fields.
