Newswise — Sixteen medical students from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine will provide on-scene medical treatment for thousands of participants in this year's Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in Washington, D.C.
The first- and second-year medical students, all uniformed officers in the Army, Navy, Air Force or Public Health Service, are members of USU's Family Medicine Interest Group (FMIG). The FMIG, which is one of the largest student-run organizations on campus, has more than 200 members and provides students with opportunities to enhance medical education, military career development and community service.
Michael Spatz, M.D., specialty division leader for the Washington, D.C., Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, recruited the students for the job. Dr. Spatz is a 1983 graduate of USU who also specialized in family medicine. His wife, Doris, is a five-year survivor of breast cancer. Following her final year of treatment, the Spatz's got involved in the Walk. Dr. Spatz volunteered his expertise with the medical team and eventually became specialty leader.
According to Spatz, the students will primarily treat participants for blisters, but previous years have brought cases of dehydration, sprains, muscle strains, asthma, anaphylaxis, seizures, and fractures. USU students are educated to recognize and treat these injuries and ailments, and Spatz also spent time reviewing with them the basics of blister care and musculoskeletal maladies commonly seen during the walk. Students also received hands-on training for basic athletic taping skills.
The Avon Walk Washington, D.C., begins Saturday, May 5, with an opening ceremony at the Kennedy Center, after which walkers have the choice of walking 13.1 or 26.2 miles " a half or full marathon " throughout the Greater Metro Area. Participants, including walkers and volunteer crew members, will spend the night at the "wellness village," which features two-person sleeping tents, hot showers, prepared meals, entertainment, volunteer massage services and comprehensive support services. On Sunday, May 6, walkers will complete another 13.1 miles, concluding with a celebratory closing ceremony back at the Kennedy Center.
Spatz said medical care is available every four miles along the route, with larger rest stops that offer ibuprofen and care for blisters scattered throughout. In addition, there are other locations that offer physician care: at Sibley Hospital and at Sligo Middle School in Silver Spring on May 5, and at Tubman Elementary School on 13th Street, N.W., in Washington, D.C., on May 6. USU students will be at each location providing assistance.
USU is located on the grounds of the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. The university is the nation's federal School of Medicine and Graduate School of Nursing. USU is a typical academic health center with a unique focus on health promotion and disease prevention and the specialized mission of educating health care practioners to deal with peace and wartime casualties, national disasters, emerging infectious diseases and other public health emergencies.
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