I hope I have time to walk around with a camera because it’s so frustrating to write this all down but not really having the words to capture what I’m seeing. But that seems to be the resonating theme for me here: It is something that you can learn SO much about a place before arriving and that knowledge has nothing on the actual experience of it. No matter how prepared I was, no matter how much research I did, no matter how good of a traveler I might be, nothing could accurately describe the experience here, and I’m assuming that tomorrow’s day at work will be no different.

As for tomorrow, I’ll be on the labor and delivery floor unless things change (which is also common here…you have to go with the flow or you’re bound to be frustrated). I naively thought it was an error in my information packet that 27,000 babies are born here each year. It was not a typo: I’m told 80-100 deliveries per day.

Click here if you’d like to read more about the hospital.

My plane landed in Entebbe and I can’t think of any airport arrival more breathtaking. We walked down the stairs onto the tarmac in the middle of the green hills dotted with terra cotta roofs. After immigrations and customs, I found James, the driver sent to pick up students, and we headed to Kampala. On a two lane road, you have three or four modes of transportation in one lane each way and congestion is an understatement – cars and trucks, bota botas (motorcycle drivers that rent the extra one or two seats), bicyclists and pedestrians all in one lane and the shoulder. The colors and smells overwhelmed me. Tiny eight-foot by eight-foot rooms with a roof line both sides of the road and house the businesses of tailors, sandals being fashioned from old tires, airtime card sales, chipati bread  (tasty local take-away sandwich), Rolexes, auto oil sales – you name it. If you can sell it, there is a small building for it. There are also lots of brick buildings being built that are two or three stories and, if you look into the city centers, taller 20-30 story shiny buildings live among the banks and ground level vendors.

The road from Entebbe blends into the road to Kampala – it was hard to tell where Entebbe ended and Kampala began. After dropping off my suitcase at NUFU House on Makerere’s campus, James took me to the medical school offices on Mulago Hospital grounds. NUFU is a five-bedroom house on university grounds. We each have a room with a desk and bed with mosquito net. We share three bathrooms, and the NUFU caretaker/office manager Margaret serves toast, coffee and fresh mango or watermelon juice every morning for breakfast. Depending on the day, samosas, banana bread or boiled eggs are also served. It’s a nice way to get to know my house mates.

I was able to take in a little bit of Kampala on Saturday and tagged along with a housemate to a coffee shop that ended up not having wifi but did have the most wonderful coffees and smoothies. We had lunch out and it was the most amazing Indian food I’ve ever had. After that we trekked to the Baha’i Temple and I learned a lot about their faith It’s a very beautiful and peaceful belief system. There is one temple on each continent and the African Temple is here. On the walk home, we stocked up on water and some fruits and veggies – jack fruit is the strangest fruit I’ve come across and it’s a delicious flavor blend of slight banana and mango. Saturday was certainly a day of acclimation and soaking in the city.

You can learn about these and many other topics thanks to members of DMU’s physician assistant Class of 2012. Right now they are wrapping up their rotations and preparing to present their master’s projects, which they’ll do next Tuesday through Friday, May 29-June 1.

The range of topics reflect our PA students’ diverse interests and growing areas of expertise. Check them out next week: The presentations, which will be held in Lecture Hall 1 in DMU’s Academic Center, are free and open to the public.

Congratulations to the PA Class of 2012 for a job well done, and more great contributions ahead!

The festivities take place over a three-day period starting on Thursday, May 24 with the COM Scholarship Golf Outing and class parties. On Friday, the campus will be abuzz with registration and a picnic on the grounds concluding with a reception and banquet at the new Veterans Memorial Convention Center. We’ll wrap the weekend up with the grand finale – the commencement ceremony on Saturday at Hy-Vee Hall in downtown Des Moines.

For the full schedule of events, click here.

We look forward to welcoming you back on campus next week!

• They are licensed to practice medicine with physician supervision in physicians’ offices, hospitals and other health care settings.
• They are formally trained to examine patients, diagnose injuries and illnesses, provide treatment and prescribe medications.
• According to the U.S. Department of Labor, job opportunities for physician assistants (PAs) are growing at a rate of 30 percent – “much faster” than the average among various professions.

PAs, in my opinion, are also some of the hardest-working and highest-serving people in health care and in our communities. They’re great people to be around, too. Sure, I’m biased (I could say the same thing about students in all DMU programs – yes, I’m that biased). The photos in this post, however, shared by student Katrina Enderle, vice president of our PA Class of 2013, show PA students in action as friends and volunteers.

Wow, do they volunteer: Over the past academic year, class members contributed more than 1,416 volunteer hours, an average of 27.8 hours of community service per student. That number beat students in Iowa’s other PA program, at the University of Iowa, who had 20.34 volunteer hours per student. As a reward, our PA students will receive $1,000 from the Iowa Physician Assistant Society to defray travel costs to the American Academy of Physician Assistants’ IMPACT 2012 conference this May in Toronto. Kudos to the class!

DMU’s PA program curriculum can be intense; students spend a lot of time together. That’s why members of each class, like the Class of 2013 above, become close friends pretty quickly.

Our PA students volunteer at DMU’s annual Senior Health Fair, a popular event held every fall where senior citizens can get free health screenings, medication reviews, balance/gait analysis and general health information. At the most recent fair, 18 PA students ran 150 dexa scans to test bone density of attendees.

DMU PA students, front row, Tara Garber, Molly Cotroneo and Ashley Buse; back row, Larissa Hoover, Starlette Dossou, Katrina Enderle, Josh Hohertz and Maggie May

More DMU Senior Health Fair volunteers: PA students Brett Dille, Kate Fuller and Casey Howe

DMU’s PA students are active community volunteers. They participate in teams that raise funds for worthy causes and provide support at numerous local events.

On March 4, this DMU PA team participated in the American Lung Association's Fight for Air Climb, raising funds and ascending 66 floors in a downtown Des Moines office building (from left): Katrina Enderle; Kari McClintick; Assistant Professor Laura Delaney, PA-C, M.P.A.S.; Ashley Buse and Drew McNeely

PA students also participated in the American Lung Association's Fight for Air Walk last fall.

As they do annually to honor Pam Harrison Chambers, PA-C, M.P.H., associate professor in the PA program and a leukemia survivor, DMU’s PA students below participated last fall in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Light the Night Walk and also raised $900 for the cause.

PA students Madison Rengstorf, Kari McClintick and Tara Garber

Also "lighting the night" were PA students Katrina Enderle, Brett Dille, Josh Hohertz and Chris Romanowicz.

For as altruistic as they are, DMU’s PA students are also competitive – physically and mentally. Last November, these tough PA students competed in the biggest cross country race in North America, a seven-mile trek up and down hills, through muddy streams and across the terrain of Living History Farms. PA students also volunteered at the race’s first aid tent.

Liz Jaqua, Kari McClintick, Maggie May, Kristin Chung and Brooke Stewart

This PA team below will compete in the 2012 National Medical Challenge Bowl on May 27 during the American Academy of Physician Assistants IMPACT Conference in Toronto. They’ll tackle questions in a variety of subjects including physical diagnosis, microbiology, anatomy, OB/GYN, pulmonary, cardiology, primary care, emergency medicine, and surgery. Good luck to the team!

Megan Rose, Amanda Olinger, Molly Cotroneo, Katrina Enderle and Katie Tacke

In addition to being caring, highly competent and competitive, DMU’s PA students are very collegial. Almost every week, you’ll find them enjoying group activities and outings around Des Moines. Below, the PA Class of 2013 relaxes at a picnic near the city’s lovely Gray’s Lake before heading off to an Iowa Cubs baseball game, an event sponsored by the PA Club.

Hard-working, compassionate, companionable and just plain fun: DMU’s physician assistant students are a super group! Learn more about them and the PA program here.

A new student initiative will help future health care professionals serve a variety of patients.

When asked by prospective students what it is about DMU that should impress them, I always bring up the quality of the students. It’s not just that we are more diverse than we might seem at first glance, with surprising talents and interests and personal histories. The biggest difference between DMU students and my undergraduate colleagues is how genuinely giving we are. We are going to spend our lives helping people, it’s true. And a substantial fraction of us intend to work with underserved populations.

A new student initiative will contribute to our preparation to serve diverse populations, including in underserved areas. The Dean’s Cultural Awareness Endorsement will offer educational opportunities open to all students and the public. DMU students who attend a certain number of events will receive a cultural awareness endorsement in their dean’s letter.

We launched the program with our first event on April 25, where Dawn Bowker, assistant professor at Mercy College of Health Sciences, presented on the topic of health disparities in the Native American population and how health care professionals can effectively reduce them. Approximately 90 people attended the event. In addition to students and faculty from DMU’s three colleges, students from Mercy College of Health Sciences and Grand View University attended the event.

Tuesday evening, students met again at the Islamic Center of Des Moines for a presentation by Dr. Tariq Mallick on the influence of religion on the health care of Muslim patients. The program continued the following morning with a forum on health care for LGBTQQIA communities.

Student feedback has been enormously positive. Angela Knoblauch, D.O.’14, writes, “Thank you so much for your work in getting this whole series going – I think it is extremely beneficial and am looking forward to future sessions.” We have also had strong support from the Student National Podiatric Medical Association (SNPMA). Kaitlyn Laube, D.P.M.’15, demonstrates interest among podiatric medical students: “The discussion this morning was fantastic. I’m already looking forward to the next event. I think that what you guys are doing for our university is awesome and absolutely necessary if we are to become health care providers that provide excellent care in a compassionate and sensitive matter to ALL of our future patients.”

Upcoming topics include major health issues of African Americans and optimal health care for returning veterans.

The Downtown Farmers’ Market opens up for the season this Saturday and has grown to span nine city blocks in the Historic Court District in Downtown Des Moines. It is held every Saturday, rain or shine and even holidays, from May 5 – October 27 from 7 a.m. – 12 p.m.

The Downtown Farmers’ Market, recently named one of America’s Best Farmers Markets by Country Living magazine, supports local producers from across Iowa, offering seasonal fresh fruit, vegetables, meats, cheese,  flowers, plants, breads and so much more. The Market also offers specialty and artisan food, provides a variety of entertainment and local art. Hope you can make it out this weekend!

Mission: Active is a take on the Mission: Impossible theme. Kids are given a booklet when they check in that lists all the booths, activities, and events for the day. Each child who completes at least 15 of those on the list will receive some prizes at the end. They can also turn in their booklet to be entered in the raffle drawing for some great give away items that have been donated from local businesses like Scheel’s Sporting Goods store.

Childhood obesity is a growing epidemic in our nation and what better way to combat this problem than to make it a fun, free, learning event for kids! There will be many local mascots on campus to pump up the attendees including Surge from the Iowa Energy, the monkey from Monkey Joe’s, and Katy the Kangaroo from Drake.

Attendees will get ‘hands on’ with various activities including an obstacle course, foot race, hula hoop contest, hop scotch, and much more! All elementary school age kids and their families are encouraged to attend. We’ll see you this Saturday, May 5^th between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. at 3200 Grand Avenue in Des Moines!

Saturdays in 2012:
May 5 – Fiesta Latina
May 19 – Gardening & Conservation
June 2 – Life in the Ice Age
June 16 – Healthy Living
June 30 – Science
July 14 – When I Grow Up
July 28 – Zoolympics
August 11 – Safari Splash
August 25 – Explorer