GSDM Volunteers At MassCARE Health And Fitness Fair

GSDM volunteers at the MassCARE Health and Fitness Fair
GSDM volunteers at the MassCARE Health and Fitness Fair

On Saturday, August 22, 2015, 20 members of the Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine (GSDM) community—18 students and two faculty members—came together to volunteer at the annual Massachusetts Community AIDS Resource Enhancement (MassCARE) Health and Fitness Fair, which took place at The Cedardale Center in Groveland.

MassCARE is a statewide program that provides access to medical care, social services, and other support services to women and children living with HIV, as well as their affected family members. MassCARE promotes early identification of HIV. The program is funded under Part D of the Federal Ryan White Program and is located at Federally-qualified community health centers in five sites.

The Health and Fitness Fair on August 22 was a fun summer event with a cookout, swimming, and other outdoor activities for HIV positive women, children, youth, and their families. Several health stations were set up during the fair. These health stations included health and wellness presentations, health screenings, tables with information about support services, and children’s activities.

The GSDM volunteers worked at a large area where they offered dental screenings to anyone interested. They also delivered an approximately 20 minute presentation on oral health, and ran several oral health themed dental activities.

“The MassCARE Health and Fitness Fair was a wonderful event that allowed families living with HIV and AIDS to enjoy a beautiful August day while taking advantage of various health and wellness resources,” said Clinical Instructor in the Department of Health Policy & Health Services Research and Oral Health Promotion Director Kathy Lituri. “The GSDM student volunteers screened more than two dozen people during the event, while also gaining valuable real world oral health experience.”

The GSDM volunteers were at the Health and Fitness Fair from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

GSDM’s participation in the event was planned by the Boston University GSDM American Student Dental Association (BU ASDA) in collaboration with the Office of Global and Population Health (GPH).

“I am proud of all the DMD and AS students and faculty who took time out of their busy academic schedules to give back to the community in a much needed way,” said Dean Jeffrey W. Hutter. “It is with service events like these that GSDM continues to solidify its role as a pillar of the local community.”

Student volunteers:

Mcallister Castelaz DMD 17; Ashish Agarwal AS 17; Kanika Chadha AS 17; Sara Elashaal DMD 17; Jing Guo DMD 17; Neha Gupta AS 17; Nikoo Habibnia DMD 17; Navtej Kang AS 16; Ana Keohane AS 16; Laila Khalid AS 17; Valerie LaScala DMD 18; Edith Lin DMD 19; Luis Perez DMD 18; Hayley Rodgers DMD 19; Kanika Sachdev AS 17; Maedeh Sedaghati AS 17; Michael Spoto DMD 19; Nobiru Suzuki DMD 18

Faculty volunteers:

Clinical Instructor in the Department of Health Policy & Health Services Research, Dee Devlin; Clinical Instructor in the Department of Health Policy & Health Services Research and Oral Health Promotion Director, Kathy Lituri

Photos from the Health and Fitness Fair can be found on Facebook and Flickr.