VCOM View Magazine Vol. 13 | No. 1

they will have a positive impact on health around the country and particularly in the Southeast United States. Of course, this class is just the beginning for VCOM-Louisiana, and I look forward to the future we’re building here.” The early success of the VCOM-Louisiana Class of 2024 is remarkable, but like all VCOM campuses, VCOM-Louisiana students start making a difference in community health even before graduation. The Class of 2024 began that work within their first year as VCOM students, providing support to a community deeply impacted by Hurricane Ida in August 2021. Earlier this fall, students across all four VCOM Louisiana classes helped provide sports physicals for ULM baseball, softball, beach volleyball, tennis and track and field athletes. You can also find students volunteering at community healthcare events, where they provide services like blood pressure screenings and CPR demonstrations. VCOM-Louisiana students

have volunteered over 38,000 hours of community service in Louisiana and the Delta region since 2020. In addition, VCOM-Louisiana enjoys a productive collaboration with the University of Louisiana Monroe (ULM), giving VCOM-Louisiana students access to many of the benefits available to ULM students. ULM is home to Louisiana’s only public school of pharmacy and has schools of nursing, physical therapy, kinesiology, occupational therapy and other health sciences, offering numerous opportunities for research and educational collaboration for VCOM and ULM students. For example, the interprofessional education events (IPE) hosted by VCOM-Louisiana each quarter bring together students from VCOM-Louisiana, ULM College of Pharmacy and the ULM Marjorie S. Price Doctor of Physical Therapy Program. The goal of these events is to instill a sense of teamwork and shared responsibility among students from various

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