Des Moines, Iowa, May 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sheltering-at-home and social distancing are not options for frontline health care employees. Working to provide some relief to these individuals and their families are more than 80 Des Moines University students, representing all eight of DMU’s graduate medical and health sciences programs: In March, they created the Des Moines Childcare and Household Management Resource Network to help with household and childcare tasks for members of the Polk County, IA, medical community, from physicians and nurses to pharmacists and custodians.
Sydney Stanley, a second-year student in DMU’s doctor of osteopathic medicine program and president of her class, got the ball rolling.
“There was a need amongst medical personnel for support, and there was an excess of students who were equipped to serve this community,” she says. “Our students provided over 10,000 hours of community service last year and were on track to provide 12,000 hours of community service this year. With the outbreak of COVID-19, the students’ regularly scheduled volunteer opportunities in the community were put hold. This network re-opens the door for students who want to serve this community.”
DMU students provide services such as childcare/baby-sitting, pet-sitting, grocery shopping and meal preparation for medical personnel and their families. Information about the network is being disseminated via a joint effort with the Polk County Medical Society and central Iowa hospital and clinic systems.
“I want people to know that there are still ways to support their neighbors, the vulnerable populations and our community at large, while also following safe social practices,” she says. “I believe the surgeon general said it best, ‘Social distancing does not have to mean social disengagement.’”
Students also are volunteering to staff the 211 hotline devoted to answering COVID-19 questions. On March 16, the Polk County Health Department advised county residents to call the 211 center, a localized version of the statewide 211 system, if they have mild symptoms of the novel coronavirus instead of going to the doctor’s office.
"It has been a good experience to be able to have an outlet to help people during a time of need," says hotline volunteer Kathryn Aitkens, a third-year osteopathic medical student.
Another third-year osteopathic medical student at DMU, Pooja Gottumukkala, volunteered for the hotline since the pandemic had put her rotations on hold. She told The Des Moines Register that because requirements to get a test for COVID-19 were so strict, 211 acted as a first screen. She said answering calls to the hotline had given her a deeper understanding of how scary it can be for people without medical backgrounds who fear they are sick to parse through “science speak” amid the anxiety and deaths caused by the virus.
“A lot of people who call feel like they are wasting our time, or they feel dumb because they are calling, and my first response is always, ‘No, you did the right thing,’” Gottumukkala said in a May 1 article in the Register. “It’s been really impactful to see how just listening has eased people’s uncertainties, but also how having the screening line hopefully lets hospitals and providers focus on those who are truly very ill.”
Des Moines University is the only private medical school in Iowa, offering graduate-level professional degree programs in osteopathic medicine, podiatric medicine, physical therapy, physician assistant studies, health care administration, anatomy, biomedical sciences and public health. Founded in 1898, the institution offers superior academics in a collaborative environment. DMU students’ pass rates on national examinations and board certifications are consistently higher than national averages and rates at peer institutions.
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