ATSU participates in first Navajo Nation Special Olympics MEDfest
Posted: September 3, 2015
The team was led by Gerry Keenan, MMS, PA-C, associate professor, Department of Physician Assistant Studies didactic faculty, and clinical director for Healthy Athletes Arizona MEDFest.
He was joined by Harvey Simon, MD, pediatrician and adjunct faculty for the ATSU Physician Assistant program and full-time faculty with the ATSU School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona (ATSU-SOMA); Kim Gilmer, MS, assistant professor and clinical coordinator for the Department of Physician Assistant Studies; Sherron Cook, MS, PA-C ’08, adjunct faculty; and PA student James Heil, class of 2017. Cook and her mother acted as translators. Both are members of the Dine’ (Navajo nation).
Lindsay Alaishuski, DO, family medicine physician and ATSU preceptor for ATSU-SOMA students from North Country HealthCare at Grand Canyon, journeyed to assist the effort and complete the clinical staff. Special Olympics staff Laura Duncan, area coordinator, Jesse Thompson, Healthy Athletes coordinator, and ATSU skills faculty rounded out the day’s faculty.
“In addition, certified nursing assistant students from Ganado High School located on the Navajo Reservation in northeastern Arizona, and led by Thompson and Heil, assisted with the screenings, taking vitals, and performing vision screenings in a true interprofessional education moment,” said Keenan.
“This was a groundbreaking and humbling experience to be here and provide for the Navajo Nation’s individuals with special needs in the first-ever Navajo Nation MEDfest,” said Jesse Thompson. “We were honored to be invited. ATSU and the Physician Assistant department were phenomenal! Without them it would not have happened.”