College of Medicine Health Circus Comes to Caldwell

Medical students at the College of Medicine of The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center have created a new service project modeled after the Greatest Show On Earth. The College of Medicine Health Circus will be appearing at Caldwell Middle School on Saturday, February 22, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Health Circus will provide free health services including immunizations, CHIP and medicaid insurance enrollment, healthy-child screening, as well as nutrition and development information.
Health Circus activities are designed to educate the people of Brazos, Burleson, Grimes, Leon, Madison, and Robertson counties on the importance of mmunizations, regular health and dental care, dietary habits, and financial options when choosing the best health care for family members. Dental screenings will be provided courtesy of Blinn School of Dental Hygiene. For the parents, there will be free diabetes and cholesterol screenings provided by the College Station Medical Center. Food, clowns, balloons, and games for children and adults alike; the show will have special items, door prizes and school supplies for those who receive immunizations.
The Health Circus team of medical students want to stress the importance of prevention as they work to increase the percentage of children who are immunized in small, rural counties. College of Medicine student leaders who are organizing the Health Circus include the following: Rajesh Daftary and Julia Ruiz serve as Community Liaisons; Salim Rezaie is the Caldwell Contact; Lakshmi Nair and Virginia Smith are in charge of Dental Screenings; The Financial Committee is co-chaired by Shannon DeShazo and Carlton Stadler; Rebecca Wiatrek, Melissa Reily, and Sunita Varghees coordinate Immunizations; Adrienne Turner is in charge of the Mental Health Screenings and Tex Care Signups; the Nutrition information is coordinated by Todd Johnsonand Mahta Ostadian; and Shail Maheshwari is in charge of Publicity.
Local radio station Aggie 96 will be broadcasting live from the Health Circus from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. The medical students working on Health Circus want to thank all of the volunteers who have helped to make the event a success.

The College of Medicine, founded in 1973, offers students an excellent medical education experience through collaborative affiliations and combined resources and expertise from private, state and federal health care agencies. Training future physicians to be on the leading edge of knowledge, skill and patient care in all areas of medicine is the College of Medicine’s objective. The college has trained a significant number of primary care physicians, with more than 60 percent of its graduates entering primary care residencies. Students associate closely with senior faculty and researchers in all phases of the curriculum and have clerkships at Scott & White Memorial Hospital & Clinic and the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System in Temple; Darnall Army Hospital at Fort Hood; and Driscoll Children’s Hospital in Corpus Christi. In addition to the College of Medicine, other health science center components are Baylor College of Dentistry, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, the Institute of Biosciences and Technology, and the School of Rural Public Health.