Med School students open Foot Check Clinic

The Primary Care and Paediatrics Coalition (PCPC) of Saba University School of Medicine (SUSOM) has partnered with The Honourable Henry Carlyle Every Home for the Aged on a Diabetic and Elder Foot Check Clinic.

The Clinic is the brainchild of SUSOM’s fourthsemester students Lara Kirkpatrick and Chelsea Beveridge. “We love visiting and helping the clients every week, but we wanted to make more of a positive impact on their health,” The Home’s volunteers said.

They see this project as a way to forge closer ties between SUSOM students and clients of The Home, while also giving medical students practical experience in interviewing and examining patients. With support and help from The Home’s Manager and Quality Care Officer Pieter van Amsterdam the project has come to fruition.

In March, PCPC’s first Diabetic Foot Check Clinic Training Workshop was held at SUSOM. Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs and Clinical Medicine Professor Dheeraj Bansal conducted an informative lecture on diabetic foot care and Van Amsterdam, who has extensive training in nursing for the elderly and disabled, created educational hand-outs for the 20 medical students and several nurses who attended.

The lecture portion was followed by a lab demonstration and practice time for all participants. “We loved how involved and enthusiastic participants were in the lab practice, making the effort to do the foot checks properly” said Beveridge. “Once we’re doctors, we’ll have a growing number of diabetic and elderly patients, so this skill is very valuable,” Kirkpatrick added.

The inaugural Diabetic and Elder Foot Check Clinic was held at The Home on Saturday. Ten medical students conducted the Foot Check Exam on seven clients, which was considered a positive experience for all involved.

The medical-student volunteers said the Clinic was very useful for practicing both examination and interview skills. They enjoyed meeting the clients and building closer ties with the residents of The Home. The clients were treated to personalised foot checks, which Kirkpatrick and Beveridge hope will become a regular part of their healthcare.

They gave special thanks to the many volunteers who helped bring this project to life: the clients of The Home for their generous cooperation; Dr. Bansal and Van Amsterdam for their advice and mentorship; the medical students for participating; the nursing staff at The Home for their help and support; the administration offi ce staff at SUSOM for their tireless efforts on behalf of this and other club projects; and the Spring 2016 Executive Board of PCPC for making this a Club activity so it can continue every semester even after Kirkpatrick and Beveridge have fi nished Basic Sciences on Saba.

PCPC plans to run the training workshop and clinic again next semester and hope to see even more clients and students involved next time.

The Daily Herald.