PCOM South Georgia
to hold on-campus
health screenings
Published 11:36 am Monday, February 3, 2025
Health screening student organizers Rajay Dockery, far left, and Michael Abaskaron, far right, practice taking blood pressures on their classmates Alize Berrios, second from left, and Mauricio Soto. The February 10, event on the PCOM South Georgia campus will include blood pressure and body mass index screening and educational information. The event will be presented by student physicians.
Student physician Rajay Dockery, left, takes the blood pressure of his classmate Alize Berrios. Dockery, along with student physician Michael Abaskaron are organizing a blood pressure and body mass index screening for the community 5:30-7:30 p.m., February 10, on the PCOM South Georgia campus.
MOULTRIE – “Knowing your numbers is essential to your health” is the message PCOM South Georgia student physicians want to share with the community during their wellness event on Monday, February 10.
“Blood pressure and body mass index are important health measures because they can show risks for problems like heart disease, stroke and diabetes,” Michael Abaskaron, an event organizer, said. “Checking these helps find health issues early, so people can get the care they need. Think of them as being similar to a check engine light on the display of your car’s dashboard.”
Scheduled from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., on the PCOM campus at 2050 Tallokas Road, the screening is open to adults.
“This event will hopefully benefit community members for years to come by providing them with the tools and information to implement healthier lifestyle practices and to keep better track of their healthcare markers, like blood pressures and BMI,” Rajay Dockery, an event organizer, said. “Our goal here is to inspire those who participate to play a more active role in their own healthcare, which could be as simple as scheduling an overdue appointment with a family physician or getting connected with resources that could help them find affordable health insurance.”
Student physicians conduct the screenings and provide information about how BMI and blood pressure serve as indicators of overall health.
“This event will give PCOM medical students valuable hands-on experience in conducting health screenings and educating the community,” Abaskaron said. “It helps them build clinical skills, improve communication with patients, and understand the importance of preventive care in promoting better health outcomes.”
PCOM student organizers plan to hold more community health screenings on campus in the future. Funds from PCOM’s Community Wellness Initiative help support the screenings.
“We want to hold the community wellness event on campus because we want community members to become familiar with healthcare on all fronts,” Dockery said. “We want to begin tearing down the walls that make a healthier lifestyle or even a career in healthcare seem like a distant dream to many…We hope events like this will result in more physicians from the community training here and staying here to practice. To me this is the ultimate form of giving back and paying it forward to the community that has had such a powerful impact on the lives of PCOM South Georgia and its students.”
