The National Western Stock Show & Rodeo in Denver is renowned as a showcase of livestock and rodeo culture, but it may also be the only time that some Coloradans who live in rural areas are getting a professional medical screening.
For the past eight years, professors, faculty and medical students from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora have provided free health screenings to stock show performers and attendees at a booth in the main exhibit hall at 4655 Humboldt St.
“It’s a great outreach program that we do,” said Jennifer Hellier, director of the Colorado Health Professions Development Program at the University of Colorado Anschutz. “This is when the ranchers and farmers actually come to Denver, and that’s the biggest population that we really want to help.”
She said about two-thirds of Colorado is considered rural or frontier — places where there is a dire need for healthcare professionals.
“For many people, this is their annual health exam,” Hellier said. “We have tons of people who come to us every year and tell us that we are their only annual” screening.
The medical volunteers from Aurora can’t diagnose an ailment, but they can do a comprehensive checklist, health-habit monitoring and make suggestions for follow-up exams with a physician. They also provide a slew of specialized insurance and health-care provider information to everyone they see.
At the booth, students check body mass index, blood pressure, eyesight and blood-glucose levels for drop-in visitors and record their health habits with an iPad.
Screening tests like cholesterol levels are offered on a limited basis. The students will suggest if a person needs other tests like mammograms, colonoscopies and breast exams to be done by their primary physicians. As of last year, flu vaccinations and a heartburn screening corner were added to the growing program.
Last year more than 200 CU Anschutz volunteers screened 1,438 adults and 1,019 children.
The volunteers come from the schools of medicine, physician assistants, pharmacy, nursing, physical therapy, dental and also pre-pharmacy, and they all work in shifts from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m, every day of the stock show (Jan. 10 to 25).
Last week, Elizabeth Waste, a first-year School of Nursing student from CU Anschutz was screening Rick Castillio, 56, an attendee who lives in Thornton. Once the tests and questions were over, Waste informed Castillo of a few things he was neglecting health-wise.
“She told me to get more exercise and eat more fruits and vegetables,” Castillo said. “But I didn’t know that my eyes had changed and I might need a new prescription.”
He said, “I’ve been to this (free screening) at the stock show before. It’s great that they offer this, and it’s something I appreciate and take advantage of.”
The health screenings are funded primarily through the regional Colorado Area Health Education Center, which is part of CU Anschutz. Hellier said the annual cost is just below $50,000. Some costs are also covered through grants and CU Anschutz itself.
The program also helps the medical students learn about rural healthcare and some of the challenges they would face if they choose to pursue that as a career.
Mark Deutchman, director of CU Anschutz’s rural track within the School of Medicine said the free health screening services offered at the stock show allow some of his students to identify health patterns in rural communities.
“My students get to meet people who they wouldn’t ordinarily meet during the screening and interview process. They find out about these peoples’ ways of life,” Deutchman said.
He said that out of about 170 U.S. medical schools, only roughly 30 have programs like the rural track at CU Anschutz.
“This is the one time these people come to Denver in most cases, so this is the best time and place for us to do this work and research on that demographic,” Hellier said. “We’ve had so many great stories of people who were screened for a condition they (didn’t know they had), and then they came back and told us ‘you know, you really saved my life,’ and that is really incredible and gratifying.”
Megan Mitchell: 303-954-2650, mmitchell@denverpost.com or
