Northeast News

July 27, 2016

KANSAS CITY, Missouri – First year medical students at Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences (KCU) got their first taste of the school’s giving spirit on Wednesday, July 27 by participating in the university’s ‘We Care’ community service day.

Some 270 med students were dispersed throughout the metro in the celebration of service. Activities included volunteering at the Mattie Rhodes Art Camp, working with kids from the Police Athletic League (PAL) in the KCU garden, helping out at the Pendleton Heights Community Orchard Volunteer Day, and working with PAL kids at KCU’s high-tech Human Patient Simulation Lab.

During the simulation, KCU students stationed in a hidden control room served as the voices of life-like mannequins while Police Athletic League kids played the role of doctor, attempting to diagnose maladies that the students were describing.

KCU Education Technician Coordinator LaDonna Campbell noted that the simulation serves a benefit for both KCU students and the PAL children who joined them.

“Our biggest-picture goal is to open up the possibility that they can be a doctor – that they can be a physician, not just go to the doctor,” said Campbell of the guests from PAL. “For many of the students who volunteer and help in this kind of setting, it gives them a chance to experience this whole simulation from the voice of the patient, rather than being a medical student.”

Campbell also spoke about KCU’s commitment to giving back to the community, and why the university dedicates it’s first week of medical school to helping others.

“I think KCU values highly the role of community service, and also what our role is in this Northeast neighborhood,” said Campbell. “If we do it at the very beginning, then in two weeks or a month when they get an email that says, ‘we’ve got a group that’s volunteering to give sports physicals or boy scout camp physicals, are you interested in joining us,’ they know that’s a core part of what we do.”