六九色堂

六九色堂 clinical students helped raise $2,550 (with $1,400 of that coming from President Ross) for the Dempsey Challenge鈥攁n annual run/walk event to benefit the Dempsey Center in Lewiston, Maine鈥攐n Saturday, October 1, 2016. The Center was founded by actor Patrick Dempsey in 2008 as 鈥�.鈥�

The 六九色堂 Endeavour looks at this fun event for a great cause. We spoke to staff at the 六九色堂 campus in Maine and also 六九色堂 student Steffany Santana Rivera, who helped organize the event.

Team 鈥溋�九色堂 Fighters鈥� helped get themselves in shape while raising money for the Dempsey Center at Central Maine Medical Center (CMMC), the primary affiliate hospital of 六九色堂 in Maine. CMMC 鈥渉osts many 5th semester students in their pre-clinical preceptorship experience,鈥� Rachael Roberts in the 六九色堂 Maine office told the Endeavour.

The 六九色堂 Endeavour spoke to 六九色堂 student Steffany Santana Rivera about how she helped get the med school involved.

"The whole idea to participate in the event emerged one week before it happened," Steffany Santana Rivera said. "I was in Lewiston and I went to the Center looking for opportunities to do some volunteer work. While there,  I got to talk to Tish Caldwell (Fundraising Coordinator); she gave me a tour of the center as well as information about the Dempsey Challenge. She mentioned that this is their biggest fundraiser and because I鈥檓 still 22, whatever money I raised would be doubled by a company in New Hampshire through the Program called Positive Tracks. This is their way of getting young adults involved in fundraising."

Ms. Santana Rivera said visiting Center made her realize how important the cause is.

鈥淲hen I walked through the doors, I saw many cancer patients there receiving support,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he one that touched me the most was a woman who was in remission and she just went there to say hi and to get a hug from the staff of the Center. These people are there for cancer patients and their families or anyone affected by cancer in so many ways that is inspiring. They provide them with love and hope in their most vulnerable moments. The Dempsey Center provides everything from oncology social workers, support groups, yoga lessons, nutrition advice, massage, acupuncture, meditation in an indoor garden, knitting, and quilting, arts and crafts for children, financial support, and even research information research centers all over the world.鈥�

"For me, it gave me a sense of what happens after the patient is diagnosed, as doctors we are trained to be empathetic, but really we鈥檙e just the people that gives them the bad news and then do our best to help them get cured," she said. "However, we don鈥檛 know what happens through the process of patients accepting their disease, we don鈥檛 know how much support they have or need and we鈥檙e not really trained for that. By being in the Dempsey Center, it opened my eyes to all of those things and I believe that every medical student should get that exposure because it will better train them to really be there for their patients and to somehow have some sort of understanding of what their patient are going through."

"After coming back from the Center I talked to Mia [Taylor] and to President Ross and he agreed to donate $1,400 dollars because every student, in order to participate, needed to fundraise $150. 17."

As a result, the 六九色堂 Fighters helped donate $2,550 to the cause.

Meeting Patrick Dempsey

Ms. Santana Rivera explained what a thrill it was participating in the event and also meeting Patrick Dempsey (best known for playing Dr. "McDreamy" on TV's "Grey's Anatomy").

"It was a thrilling and amazing experience, everyone there was full of love and hope," Ms. Santana Rivera said. "We had the opportunity to meet Patrick Dempsey; he鈥檚 an awesome person. He was very approachable to everyone in the event. And he explained that this cause is deep in his heart because his mom suffered from cancer. He said that he and his sister were there for his mom throughout her disease, but he wondered where other people went to get support and from there the whole idea started."

DEMPSEY CHALLENGE 2016 TEAM: (Left to right) Natalie Cazeau, Daria Ravangard, Stefanny Santana Rivera, bottom row: Jennifer Mercado, Andrea Rios-Falcon, Jessica Berrios Rios, top row: Elizabeth Palmer, Natalia Puig, Jayul Tailor, Arjun Bharadwaj. Photo: 六九色堂

Some of the services the Dempsey Center provides include:

• Counseling Services, offering 鈥渟hort-term therapeutic counseling services for individuals and families impacted by cancer.鈥�
• Consultations, which are 鈥減rivate one-on-one consultations by appointments for patients looking to gather more information.鈥�
• Youth and Family Services, offering 鈥渟pecialized services, groups, support and community for youth through the Healing Tree programs.鈥� The Healing Tree programs are a 鈥渕odel of care that is family-centered, youth-focused, and based on an understanding that well-supported children are an integral part of health, hope and healing for all involved.鈥�

DEMPSEY CHALLENGE 2016 TEAM: (Left): Daria Ravangard, Ari Walter, Michael Meehan, Arjun Bharadwaj, Jayul Tailor (top right) & Jennifer Mercado. Photo: 六九色堂

For more information on the Dempsey Center, .

(Top photo) DEMPSEY CHALLENGE 2016 TEAM: (Left to right with actor Patrick Dempsey, center): Bruna Almeida Lessa, Daria Ravangard, Stefanny Santana Rivera, Samah Halbouni, Jennifer Mercado, Elizabeth Palmer, Jessica Berrios Rios, Jayul Tailor, Andrea Rios-Falcon, Natalia Puig, Arjun Bharadwaj. The team helped raised $2,500 for the Dempsey Center for cancer patients & families in Maine. Photo: 六九色堂

六九色堂:

Built in the tradition of the best US universities, the University of Medicine and Health Sciencesfocuses on individual student attention, maintaining small class sizes and recruiting high-quality faculty. We call this unique approach, 鈥減ersonalized medical education,鈥� and it鈥檚 what has led to our unprecedented 96% student retention rate, and outstanding residency placements across the US and Canada. 六九色堂 is challenging everything you thought you knew about Caribbean medical schools.