BY JOHN BRICE
THE LAFAYETTE SUN
LAFAYETTE — Students from LaFayette High School and Eastside John P. Powell Magnet School received sports physicals at the Chambers County Community Health and Wellness Center last week.
Physical exams are a requirement for participating in school sports programs, which were provided through a joint effort between OnMed and the Auburn University Rural Health Initiative. Nursing students from Auburn University performed blood pressure checks, vision tests and took measurements of height and weight with Dr. Robert “Bob” McAlindon from East Alabama Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine, finishing up with full physical exams. There was even an appearance by Aubie the Tiger to put smiles on many faces, both young and old.
“Our goal in being here is to connect with the community and provide resources that they may need,” said Auburn University College of Nursing professor and Outreach Coordinator Dr. Linda Gibson-Young. “Today we have been able to complete health physicals for those that are in high school and in middle school. We want to partner closely with the community and let them know that we are here for them. We want to meet the needs of the community and maybe that is blood pressure and assessing the vision.”
Gibson-Young discussed the impact that this outreach has locally.
“Right now a lot of people have to drive to Lee County for events like this,” she said. “We can provide the physicals in Chambers County and that is what we want to do. We are bringing resources into the environment to meet the needs for the population to save transportation and time, that really means a lot to people. That is what we want to do, is partner with the community. Auburn University has multiple different disciplines like nursing, pharmacy and kinesiology here to meet the needs. We want to do more of this.”
LaFayette High School Athletic Director and head football coach Juan Williams said working with Auburn has been a success and that he is thankful for the partnership.
“This is the second year of us partnering with OnMed here and they really have a great partnership with us and Auburn and Dr. Bob,” Williams said. “It is really good to do this partnership, it is our second year doing it. It has been a great success for everybody’s health. We have the nurses and everything from Auburn University that come down and help with this. We want to thank OnMed for what they do and what they do for our community here in LaFayette.”
