MERIDIAN — Students at Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine are turning their classrooms into exam rooms and labs for the public for one day only.
Students are busy planning the first, free to the public, health fair. First-year students are in charge of meeting patients and taking vitals, second-year students will be doing physical exams, for hearts, lungs, eyes, and more of the basics. It's not an emergency room setting; it's just general volunteer work, allowing students to give check-ups before they begin their rotations.
If they see anything abnormal, they'll have you check it out with your primary care physician.
"As med students, we're used to seeing standardized patients or actors that are trained to portray a certain disease state, but what they tell us at the beginning o school is not all patients are going to present like the textbook says they will, so that will give us a little bit of an opportunity to see that," said second-year student Kiefer Starks.
Saint Alphonsus' mammogram bus will be there as well. Physical examinations are available for all people 18 and up. They can see nearly 100 patients during the fair, set for February 8th. You will be able to sign up online at https://www.idahocom.org/.
