Life lessons taught by patients

DMU physical therapy student Shellina Herink gave up her spring break to work with post-stroke volunteers, other students and physical therapists during DMU’s second-annual stroke camp. “Come to find out, it was the best spring break adventure during my lifetime of education,” she says.

My miracle on Grand Avenue

In 1972, extreme back pain left U.S. Ambassador Kenneth Quinn, Ph.D., paralyzed and prone on the floor in a remote province in the Mekong Delta of South Vietnam. He found relief during a $15 exam at Des Moines University.

Waging peace through military medicine

Most people understand the wartime mission of the U.S. military, but there are many aspects of the nation’s military force that wage peace, save lives, develop friendships and solve health problems in areas of severe need. The results are nothing short of magical.

Let’s stop driving in the dark health-wise

The United States spends far more than any other nation on medical care, more than 17 percent of our gross domestic product. We are not getting our money’s worth, however. That’s because we lack a cohesive national strategy for collecting, analyzing, communicating and using data to improve our health.

Imposter or Not

Rachel Hammer is a second-year student at Mayo Medical School in Rochester, MN. Her essay, excerpted here, appears in the 2010 edition of Abaton, DMU’s annual medical literary journal.

How to look on the bright side of life

As for most people, life is not all good times and gumdrops for Annette Benjamin, a certified billing coding specialist in the DMU Clinic. She’s experienced divorce and has raised her teenage daughter, Gretchen, without her ex-husband’s support or involvement. But at DMU, Benjamin is known as one of the most infectiously sunny and friendly people on campus.

Scroll to Top