WesternU COMP-Northwest students provide care at OHSU Health Care Equity Fair

On Sunday, October 6, several Western University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific-Northwest (COMP-Northwest) students and faculty participated in the annual Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) Health Care Equity Fair (HCEF) held at Pioneer Courthouse Square in Portland, Oregon.

Each year, health care providers from a variety of disciplines team up to provide care to uninsured and underinsured populations in Portland. During the fair, community members had access to a variety of support, including health screenings, vision screenings, veterinary services, showers, food, haircuts, and more. Students from COMP-Northwest, OHSU, Oregon State University, Pacific University, and the University of Western States worked side-by-side to provide care to more than 100 unhoused individuals.

While this was WesternU's third year participating in HCEF, one COMP-Northwest faculty member has been involved with this event since the very beginning. In 2007, as a first-year medical student at OHSU, Assistant Professor of Family Medicine Gina Miller, MD, helped organize what would later become the HCEF.

OHSU and WesternU students and faculty work side-by-side to examine patients and develop a plan of care.

"Back then it was called Cover the Uninsured Week. It was a week of activities with educational sessions and events that culminated in this free health fair for the underinsured community in Portland," said Dr. Miller. "The following year we wanted to make the event larger, so we partnered with Potluck in the Park, an organization that provides a free hot meal to the houseless population every Sunday. It was always in the same location, serving about 400 or 500 meals in an afternoon to a set population. We decided to bring the health care to the people."

Returning to Oregon after residency, Dr. Miller was pleased to discover a new generation of capable students leading the charge to provide services to the underinsured. "The students have done a really impressive job of putting it all together, growing it, expanding it, and getting more financial needs met so we can provide more services," shared Dr. Miller.

In addition to providing care to vulnerable populations, this event provided WesternU students the opportunity to collaborate with other health care students, as each primary care tent had a supervising physician, an OHSU student, and a COMP-Northwest student.

Over 20 WesternU students and faculty participate in HCEF, providing primary care and helping with the operations of the event.

"We utilized this as an opportunity for osteopathic students to integrate with allopathic students and show them the osteopathic model," said Dr. Miller. "They would all examine the patient together and come up with a plan of care. The osteopathic students, if the patient would benefit from manipulation, would make those recommendations. The patient would then be brought to one of two COMP-Northwest-sponsored tents where DO faculty could then provide osteopathic manipulation."

This interdisciplinary collaboration also helped reinforce the education that WesternU students receive on how to provide holistic patient care as part of a patient-centered health care team.

"One of my favorite parts about this event was the collaboration with other health care programs. We were able to collaborate, not just with another medical school, but with all the other disciplines that OHSU offers," said second-year COMP-Northwest student Colleen Mercado. "I was surprised to be paired with a nursing student in the primary care tent, but it was a really great experience because it showed us both where our roles overlapped and where they differed, as well as how we both contribute to patient care in different ways."

Looking forward, COMP-Northwest students and faculty are eager to provide similar services to the underinsured population in Lebanon.

"We would love to see this happen in our community too. We'd like to bring OHSU students here to see what the provision of free medical care to a rural population is versus the houseless metropolitan population," said Dr. Miller.

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