Last year, I celebrated Earth Hour with friends at my apartment playing the card game Spoons in the dark. We started off with a social yoga-ing, enjoying the relaxing evening under the starry sky and dug right into all of the delectable foods they all brought over. We lit some candles and pulled out our physical diagnosis pen light every so often to make sure we weren’t running into furniture. I had such a great time with all of my friends who came over to help make this statement about protecting planet earth.

Posted in Current Students, Des Moines Events, DMU Events, Student Bloggers | Leave a Comment

 I have tons of fun stories from our spring break trip to El Salvador. This first one is about my first ambulance ride. On March 15, the El Salvadorians had their presidential election and our team was asked to stick around just in case a riot broke out and first aid was required. Most of the day was actually very calm, which was a slight relief for most of us who have never experienced crazy madness during elections. While it was relatively calm, we get a call that an older man was having a seizure. Most of us raced over to see if there was anything we could do to help. There were already local doctors at the site taking care of the man when we arrived, so we mostly observed the scene. At first, it looked like he was experiencing confusion resembling either a hypo- or hyperglycemic attack so one of the locals gave him a soda to drink.  Even though we weren’t sure whether it was a hyper- or hypoglycemic attack (both can cause confusion), it was better to give sugar to a hyperglycemic person than to not give sugar to a hypoglycemic person. Make sense? A hypoglycemic episode is really bad. 

Posted in Current Students, Global Health, Student Bloggers | 1 Comment

Because we work for a University, everyone always assumes we get spring break vacation just like the students. This is not true, in fact spring break is actually a very busy time for us in the admission office.

Even though we’re busy, we try to take a little time for spring break fun so we can at least feel like we’re on vacation. Now that it’s over, let me share with you how it went… 

With our cafeteria closed we had to get creative for lunch. Our St. Patrick’s Day Potluck ‘O the Irish was enviable.  Per the instructions, nearly every food item arrived in a very unnatural shade of green.  

Posted in Current Students, DMU Events, Life in Des Moines | 1 Comment

Did the title of this post make you raise your eyebrow a bit? Do you know what it means? I don’t. But I bet if you’re a DMU CPMS student, you know what it is! And whether you’re a current or prospective student, you’d probably be interested in reading Dr. Mahoney’s piece about it in the Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association (JAPMA). 

That’s just one example of the interesting cases you might experience as a student shadowing our docs in the DMU Clinic and a good reminder of how awesome it is to have a multi-specialty clinic here on campus!

Posted in Current Students, Des Moines University Clinic, Podiatric Medicine, Prospective Students | Leave a Comment

Yay! MSNBC picked Des Moines as one of the top 10 best midsize metro areas to live. (comparing 124 cities in 20 categories).

The highest scores went to well-rounded cities with “healthy economies, light traffic, moderate costs of living, impressive housing stocks and strong educational systems.” 

Des Moines was highlighted as a great place for stress-free commute. It says the average person has a 19.7 minute commute time. That even seems high considering my friends and family’s drive times – my commute is 8 minutes! 

Posted in Life in Des Moines | 1 Comment

Having an organ transplant is scary.
Donating an organ is scary.
Donating an organ for your own son’s transplant must be dreadfully frightening.

It’s also expensive. And for that reason, and to show our support, my husband & I will be at the “Transplant for Trae” benefit on Saturday. 

Trae is only 17 months old. He was born with a very rare disease. His dad Travis will be donating his own kidney to Trae this month in hopes it will prevent kidney failure and other serious complications down the road.

Posted in Des Moines Events, Life in Des Moines | Leave a Comment