An ASU group traveled to a small, rural Arizona town Saturday to provide needed health care to migrant families.
The group FACES, Fostering and Achieving Cultural Equity and Sensitivity in Health Professions, consists of ASU and UA students, community members and healthcare professionals.
The students went to Aguila to join a UA doctor and nurses from the Mayo Clinic Scottsdale to give children physicals, dental exams and immunizations. Aguila is a small farming town about two hours from ASU.
The group?s goal was to treat 30 children, but Lars Kaine, FACES vice president and a pre-med ASU student, said the group treated many more.
?It was a big turnout,? Kaine said. ?There were a lot more families than we expected.?
Parents received information about CPR and nutrition as well as donated food and clothing. FACES also put together first-aid kits to give to each family.
The migrant farm workers who live in Aguila are usually illegal citizens, which makes getting health care difficult, said Danielle Rosaf, a committee chair member in FACES and a biology senior.
?Aguila is one town out of many that needs health care,? she said. ?The town is underserved, and they don?t have a lot of resources.?
This is the first migrant health education program and health fair that FACES has held. Rosaf said the group is planning on holding the fair on a monthly basis and hopes to start the program in Gila Bend.
Gabi Parodis, a committee chair member in charge of the event, said the program is a good opportunity for community outreach and service for pre-health students.
?People going into healthcare need to see these communities,? she said.
Students who are going into the healthcare field get hands-on experience and training from the program, Rosaf said.
?The program gives students a chance to serve a population that they would have never served before,? she said.
Reach Jennifer Voges at jennyvoges@hotmail.com.
