VCOM Auburn Yearbook 2019

SAMOPS Student Association of Military Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons

David Axford, President; Nicholas Lee, Vice President; Robert Buntyn, Secretary; Daniel Jeziorski, Treasurer; Mackenzie Eickhoff, Air Force Liaison; Paul Brisson, MD, Faculty Advisor

The Auburn Campus of VCOM has become a beacon of military pride in the landscape of medical schools. This chapter of SAMOPS has started, and continues, unique military- focused activities that display the quality of the veterans and future military physicians at VCOM. SAMOPS students raise the flags at the front of the school and are in charge of lowering the flags to half-mast when ordered by the U.S. President, Governor of Alabama, or campus Dean. To accentuate the club’s commitment to this symbol, SAMOPS has also started conducting special flag raising ceremonies in memory of those lost on 9/11. Furthermore, SAMOPS has established a dedicated shelf in the library where military memorabilia are exhibited. SAMOPS’ commitment to veterans is exemplified in the annual Memorial Day Bike Ride where members raise money that is donated to organizations like the Wounded Warrior Foundation. Throughout the year, SAMOPS hosts and participates in one-of-a-kind events hosted at VCOM. In the last year, the VCOM-Auburn chapter has hosted a discussion with members of the Air Force’s

Special Operations Surgical Team (SOST). This unit has unique training in advanced medical techniques and combat tactics so that they are prepared to save lives anywhere in the world, at any time, under any conditions. SAMOPS has also hosted HPSP recruiting events for non- military classmates, so that they may explore the opportunities of serving as a physician in the armed forces. A ubiquitous concept held across all branches of the military is preparedness. SAMOPS at VCOM-Auburn brings that idea to the campus by taking responsibility for one of the most basic procedures in medicine: hemorrhage control. SAMOPS has partnered with SOSA to host one of the largest “Stop-the-Bleed” courses in the country at the school’s yearly surgical conference. No one wishes to deploy tourniquets or hemostatic gauze in an emergency, but SAMOPS has made it the club’s charge to prepare all classmates to tackle such difficult scenarios. Current first year medical student members are working diligently to develop custom trauma kits to present to classmates,

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