WEST LIBERTY, W.Va., June 3, 2019 — West Liberty University students enrolled in the Physician Assistant Studies master degree program are caring for the sick in more ways than one. The graduate students recently raised $1,200 to support the Saving Starfish Corporation, a non-profit that provides medical care to Haiti through mission trips, equipment and more.
Saving Starfish is headquartered in Wheeling and led by Wheeling physician, Dr. David Mosman. Certified Physician Assistant Amanda Wade accepted the check from the WLU Physician Assistant Student Society (WLUPASS). Wade serves as treasurer for the non-profit.
“We are pleased to be able to present this check to Saving Starfish and its Hope Clinic. We know that it costs thousands of dollars every month to operate this clinic and our PA students are thrilled to be able to help in this way,” said Assistant Professor Jennifer Childers, MSPAS, PA-C.
The Haiti clinic has examination rooms, dental suites, an optometry slit lamp for eye examinations, a fully stocked pharmacy, full functioning lab and a multipurpose room with four exam gurneys ready to be used for patient treatment. The multipurpose room is equipped with an EKG machine, defibrillator, surgical instruments for suturing and an ultrasound machine that will be used to track pregnancy.
“The Hope Clinic is a fully functioning five-days-a-week and is staffed by Haitian doctors, nurses, pharmacy technicians, lab technicians, and office staff. The first day that the clinic was open, the team saw a total of 50 patients, the second day, 70 patients,” according to Jon-Michael Brunner, a certified physician assistant who graduated from WLU’s College of Science in 2018 and is now the secretary of Saving Starfish.
The outreach to Haiti is just one of the partnerships that the WLU PA students have with local hospitals and clinics that offer WLU PA students strong clinical experiences and a chance to practice medicine.
For more information on Saving Starfish, please contact Brunner at jbrunner@westliberty.edu.
For more information on the WLU PA program, please click here or contact its director William A. Childers Jr. EdD, MS, PA-C.
