COM Outlook Winter 2019

6 | DR. KIRAN C. PATEL COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE Helping those in need has long been a hallmark of the Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine, which has coordinated dozens of medical outreach trips to various underserved areas throughout the world over the past two decades. During the first half of 2018, the KPCOM organized two separate medical outreach trips to various communi- ties in Utuado, Puerto Rico, to assist the many residents affected by Hurricane Maria, which decimated the island in September 2017. Because of the generosity of those who contributed various supplies to the humanitarian excursions, the college’s medical outreach program coordinator, Evelyn Martinez, came up with the idea to create a back-to-school supply drive for the seven communities the KPCOM visited. The seven communi- ties aided were Mameyes de Utuado (clinic location); Mameyes de Jayuya; Limon; Don Alonso; Caonillas; Fronton de Ciales; and Tetuan 1, 2, y 3. “My involvement in the back-to-school drive began in March, during our first medical outreach trip to Puerto Rico,” Martinez explained. “When second-year student Betsy Rodriguez came to my office with multiple boxes of donations, including toiletries, school supplies, BY SCOTT COLTON, B.A., APR BACK-TO-SCHOOL DRIVE AIDS SEVEN PUERTO RICO COMMUNITIES FOLLOWING DEVASTATING 2017 HURRICANE One Year After Maria “Working together with other donors, our contributions helped more than 150 children, which I am so thrilled about.” —Evelina Arzanova, M.B.S.