The Lifestyle Medicine Club of the UCLA organized the second of its free bihebdomedar clinics on February 1 to provide health screening services to the inhabitants of southern Los Angeles.
The free clinic took place at the Community Church of the Complete Gospel of God in Christ, said Roger Williams, one of the assistant pastors of the Church. During the event, the club provided health screening services, including vision tests, blood pressure tests, people with social services and personalized health education.
The members of the Lifestyle Medicine Club wanted to use the clinic to provide resources to families who find it difficult to go to health professionals and who are experiencing food or accommodation, said Tammy Shen, co -president of the Medicine Club lifestyle and a former UCLA student.
Williams said Shen had brought him the initiative, and he helped open the way to the Church event. He and Shen have been working together for several years on various health care projects, including a hypertension control program for the elderly, he said.
The Lifestyle Medicine Club wanted to have the free clinic in South because access to health care is limited in this area, said Ashwath Nayagadurai, co -president of the Medicine Club lifestyle.
“We plan to have clinics every two weeks because we think it could be an opportunity to build a community and provide care,” said Nayagadurai, a fourth year student in biophysics.
Shen said the club had taken the blood pressure, the size and weight of the participants and directed them to a vision screening station. According to the results of the blood pressure test, they then had personalized discussions on the changes that people could make to improve the results, she added.
Tena, an organization that provides assistance to patients to navigate health insurance and other resources, also attended the club’s latest clinic, said Shen.
Shen said the clinic also had an area for children, with volunteers playing with them while their parents or their family moved through the various stations of the free clinic.
Nayagadurai said that this idea of a children’s corner came from what the club learned from its first free pilot clinic in December.
“It is something I would never even have thought of before coming to the clinic-how important it is to have one or two people who take care of children while mothers or dads have their health checked,” he said.
Nayagadurai said that the organization has a lot of autonomy on each part of the clinic, adding that it is able to acquire services to meet the needs of the community. He also said that the clinic had been able to provide personalized advice for lifestyle changes and added that the clinic provides small advice adapted to individual health situations.
Williams said that beyond the services provided, the event has also brought happiness to the community.
“The only thing I saw during our last event is that everyone smiled,” said Williams. “The students were happy to give. The people who came to see us were happy to have been able to receive the services they obtained, and the mood of it was simply remarkable. »»