The theme for this academic year at FSCJ is “engagement.” The School of Health Sciences along with Executive Chair Dr. Sandy Robinson exemplified this theme at the St. Vincent’s Medical Mission at Home event on Saturday, March 5.

St. Vincent’s partnered with the College and hosted the event at the Downtown Campus Advanced Technology Center. It was St. Vincent’s first Medical Mission at Home, with more than 400 volunteers dedicating their time to providing basic and free health care to those who lack health insurance.

St. Vincent’s HealthCare offered thousands of free healthcare services to more than 200 local people in need with assistance from FSCJ volunteers including students from cardiovascular technology, dental hygiene, medical assisting and the nursing programs. Those seeking medical treatment were given free medical care and testing, vision and hearing screenings, behavioral health services, spiritual care and oral health education, to name a few.

Professor of Medical Assisting Karen Kelley is proud of her students that participated. “I really believe they were humbled by the experience,” she said. “Two of my students, Brittany Reeves and Kasey Pittman, really shined.  They were attentive and helpful to the patients who were checking out.  They made sure that the patients knew of all the available services and their patient education was top notch!” Student Charlandra Smith was also praised for her assistance with patient education.

FSCJ’s dental hygiene students provided oral health education, teaching patients about gum disease, tooth sensitivity and oral health’s relation to overall wellbeing. Cardiovascular technology students also assisted with navigating patients as well as patient check-in and patient check-out.

The patients who were treated at the event have been assigned a medical home, which will allow them access to an affordable primary care physician all year round. Thanks to this truly collaborative effort between many health professionals, FSCJ students and our community, the Medical Mission at Home event was a massive success.  This event provided a wonderful opportunity for our students in the School of Health Sciences to practice and demonstrate some of the skills they have learned in the classroom setting.