YouthHope's objectives are to "build confidence and promote self-sufficiency for homeless, runaway and underserved youth ages 14-24 by providing trust, hope, support and education."

On Feb. 12, the SPHSA raised over $1,000 at its annual Path(ology) of Love social event. Roughly 400 attendees were able to socialize; participate in games, face painting, food, speed dating, a date auction and live music; and contribute funds to a good cause.

The SPHSA also collaborated with the schools of Dentistry and Nursing to organize and host a Winter Quarter community event encouraging students and community members to donate new or slightly used clothing for youth. After three weeks, over 1,000 articles of clothing and shoes were donated.

"While I was sorting out the donations, it was evident that some students were thinking of the youth that would be receiving the donations and not just in cleaning up their closet," said Noemi Avalos, SPHSA community vice-president. "They added bracelets, perfumes or other appealing complementary items to go with the outfits they had donated. That made me almost want to cry."

Following the end of the clothing drive, SPHSA hosted a homeless youth forum. The program included a panel of experts in the field: Brenda Dowdy, homeless education program specialist with the office of the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools; Dr. Daniel Handysides, an assistant professor with the School of Public Health; Dolores Dickson, a community health worker with the Family Assistance Program; and Heidi Mayer, executive director of YouthHope.

The panel's discussion focused on raising awareness about the scope of youth homelessness in San Bernardino, as well as its causes and possible ways to alleviate the problem.

On April 8, SPHSA, in collaboration with San Bernardino County and local nonprofit organizations, will participate in administering a survey to help identify homeless youth in San Bernardino County.

This year's Christmas Fiesta took place Saturday, Dec. 6, at the SACHS Norton Clinic, bringing together 332 kids and 237 volunteers.

Families from the Inland Empire enjoyed music performed by the children participating in the CKC Music program, and a skit of the Nativity story performed by the Azure Hills Seventh-day Adventist Church. Together with their big buddy volunteers, children were able to experience arts and crafts, play games and take photos with Santa. And, thanks to a generous last minute donation from a volunteer, every child took home a gift at the end of the event.

Loma Linda University student volunteers were joined by others from Azure Hills Church, Grand Terrace High School, La Sierra University, Highland Seventh-day Adventist Spanish Church, Loma Linda University Seventh-day Adventist Spanish Church and SACHS Norton Clinic.

The quarterly My Campus events are designed as a fun, interactive way to introduce minority high school students to the health professions.

The Winter 2013 edition of this program featured the School of Behavioral Health, the School of Nursing and the School of Pharmacy, and it was a great educational experience for the high school student attendees, as well as a great time for all LLU student volunteers to share their knowledge and passion for the health professions.

First, the School of Behavioral Health presented information on social work and marital counseling specialties, providing games and teamwork to illustrate what these professions entail.

Then, the high school students took a trip to West Hall, where they got hands-on experience, learning wound wrapping and care, taking blood pressure and measuring reflexes in the simulation lab with the volunteers from School of Nursing.

Next up was the School of Pharmacy presentation, during which students learned about compounding medications and where they got to make their very own hand sanitizer to take home.

Thereafter, the students took part in speed mentoring with volunteers from different LLU schools, always a favorite with the high school students.

Lastly, students and volunteers feasted on haystacks while listening to the inspirational student speaker Melissa Charles, Ph.D., M.D.(c).

If opportunities like this spark your interest, contact the CAPS office at caps@llu.edu to learn how you get involved.

The Spring 2013 edition of this program will feature the School of Dentistry and the School of Medicine.

Titled the Partners-in-D program, the community service originally began in 2007 with a three year grant by the Amgen Foundation. Through the outreach, the School of Pharmacy was able to guide hundreds of seniors through the complicated Medicare Part D drug prescription plans, at times saving seniors over $2,000 a year in drug costs.

According to Joycelyn Yamzon, Pharm.D., principal investigator for the Amgen Foundation grant since 2008, the School of Pharmacy had such a good relationship with the staff and seniors at the centers that Telacu administrators asked for the School to return even after the grant dollars ended.

“The experience provides great teachable moments for our pharmacy students by taking the school into the local community," Dr. Yamzon said. "More importantly, the outreach assists many seniors with important cost-saving Medicare Part D drug plans, and we are also able to provide valuable drug information to seniors who often have many questions. It actually never occurred to us that this community service would end. The Telacu Partners-in-D service will remain as a teaching activity for our pharmacy students and as a service to the underserved senior community."

Telacu lead social services coordinator Elizabeth Flores is emphatic with the value of the School of Pharmacy’s Partners-in-D community service for local seniors.

“Overall, the Partners-in-D workshops have been very beneficial to our residents for many reasons," Ms. Flores said. "Seniors get opportunities each year to meet with students and professors from the LLU School of Pharmacy to update this very important enrollment process. Seniors get their medications reviewed, explained, and other questions are answered. Also, many seniors get additional health information and are often referred back to their family practitioner on the advise of the pharmacists.

“Speaking on behalf of the seniors, they always state that without the help of the School of Pharmacy students and teachers they would be lost with the Medicare Part D enrollment process. Seniors also love the attention and the visits by the young students, and the Partners-in-D community service has become something we all look forward to every November,” said Ms. Flores.

This story was originally published on the Loma Linda University School of Pharmacy Web site, pharmacy.llu.edu.

Led by Jan Nick, Ph.D., associate professor in the School of Nursing, 15 students and faculty members representing the School of Medicine, School of Dentistry, School of Public Health and School of Behavioral Health traveled to Cameroon to participate in the health fair. Bill Colwell, development director of Buea Health Center, and his wife, Trixy Franke, M.D., medical director and Deferred Mission Appointee (DMA), hosted the SIMS team.

After the team’s departure, Dr. Franke posted a summary of the students' activities on the hospital blog. Read the summary at billntrixy.blogspot.com/2013/01/sims-health-fair-dec-2012.html.

The event hosted over 240 children from San Bernardino at the SACHS Norton Clinic who were partnered with a volunteer "big buddy" and made the rounds of the Christmas Village.

Activities included face painting, cookie decorating and candy-cane-reindeer making, as well as a petting zoo, bean bag toss games, caricature drawings, and a photo with Santa.

Parents were also treated to goodie bags and activities by the Azure Hills Church.

At the end of the event, each participating child received a Christmas gift donated by volunteers and local organizations. And, thanks to the generosity of donors, CAPS again received a surplus of gifts, which were donated to various local organizations to help spread the good cheer.

Over 290 volunteers from Loma Linda University, local churches and organizations made the event a success.

For more information about CAPS and other community outreach programs, visit the CAPS Web site at llu.edu/caps or email caps@llu.edu.

For several years, many students, faculty and staff from the school have participated in Redlands Market Night. Under the supervision of licensed pharmacists, students operate an information booth where the community can seek advice on medications or obtain other general drug and health information.

According to Brittanya Limone, class of 2015, Market Night is much more than setting up a booth and waiting for questions.

“Health is often not a very popular topic, especially with many of the local residents out for a leisurely walk among the market booths. Often, students must bravely approach passersby to ask if they would be interested in learning more about their health. Most often people are very receptive to any information and service we may offer,” Ms. Limone said.

Giana Hasley, class of 2016, said that Market Night is an example of a key component of the University’s mission.

“The University’s mission is to sustain a culture of service, and I am looking forward to serving the underserved at Market Night using the education and training I am receiving here at Loma Linda University. At Market Night, we are putting learning into service, one life at a time,” Ms. Hasley said.

Students also have drug and health materials on hand for those seeking additional information on myriad health topics--and often this information disappears quickly.

Redlands Market Night is held Thursdays year-round (holidays excepted) from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. in downtown Redlands.

Dr. Thomas took some general shots, and then moved in closer, focusing on her feet. Both feet were severely swollen and disfigured from a disease known as podo (short for podoconiosis). They were barely recognizable as feet, aside from their anatomical location. He crouched for a better look.

More than three dozen photos later, Dr. Thomas stood to his feet. He wasn't sure exactly what to tell the woman, who had a quizzical expression on her face.

She had clearly concluded that he wanted more than just a tourist's snapshot of an Ethiopian woman in her natural environment.

"What should I tell her?" he remembered wondering. "Should I simply thank her and go on my way?" It was an awkward moment that motivated Dr. Thomas to seriously research this disease that affects four million people in Africa--one million of whom live in Ethiopia.

This awkward moment led to an epiphany for Dr. Thomas. "I realized that I wanted to do something about podo," he said. "I wasn't sure exactly what it would be, but there had to be something I could do to help."

He also noticed another disturbing situation during his travels to the country. "Ethiopia has among the highest incidence of blindness per capita in the world," Dr. Thomas said. "Of those cases, it's estimated that 80 percent are treatable or preventable. Of those treatable, preventable cases, 60 percent are the result of cataracts."

But that isn't the entire tragedy. "When an adult becomes blind in Ethiopia, a family member is typically assigned to stay with the blind person during every waking hour, leading him or her by the hand," he said.

"In almost every situation I saw, the one leading the blind person was a child," Dr. Thomas said. "From the family's point of view, it makes total sense, since a child is the least useful in the sometimes desperate effort to find food during the day to feed the family."

Dr. Thomas was most bothered by the thought of the childhood that child wasn't experiencing. "The child--most often a young girl--cannot go to school, or even play with friends," he said.

This point became especially clear one day as he watched a group of laughing children run by a young girl leading her blind and elderly grandfather. She shot a momentary wistful glance at the children, quickly returning to her expressionless and hopeless gaze.

"Blindness affects an entire family, pushing them even further into poverty," Dr. Thomas said. "At that moment, I resolved to do something about this tragedy."

Dr. Thomas, who is an emergency medicine physician, has done something about it. In 2006, he founded and currently directs the Tropical Health Alliance Foundation, an organization that is not your typical medical mission outreach organization.

The criteria for considering projects to fund can be summed up best by the acronyms SPUD--simple, practical, understandable, doable--and the LPI index--lives positively impacted.

In addition to addressing the conditions of podo and bilateral cataracts, the foundation sponsors projects to treat obstetrical fistulas and uterine prolapses, protect springs in African villages, and send dental students on mission trips.

"We look for widespread public health situations in Africa that are preventable and simple to solve," he said. "Our foundation seeks to impact the largest number of people possible with the funding we provide. We focus on the beneficiary, rather than the benefactor."

Podo is a perfect example. A form of elephantiasis--but not caused by a parasite or infection--the condition results from walking barefoot on the clay soil at higher elevations in Western Ethiopia.

"Podo is not an infection," Dr. Thomas said. "It is actually caused by a fiber found in the clay soil that penetrates the skin and makes its way into the lymphatic system, causing severe inflammation, scarring, and blockage of the lymphatic channels."

It is a condition closely related to poverty, since the poorest are often more interested in their next meal than in shoes.

"The obvious answer is to provide shoes," Dr. Thomas said. "However, it's not that simple. Without education, the shoes will most likely be sold to buy food."

Though incurable, podo is treatable. Ceasing barefoot contact with the clay, improving hygiene, and pressure treatments at night can reverse the condition.

"Many individuals with podo believe that it is a communicable disease, or is caused by an evil presence, walking on coffee grounds, or even stepping in frog urine," he said. "Those afflicted with the condition often withdraw from society, much like the lepers in Bible times."

Dr. Thomas credits Dr. Gail Davey at the Brighton & Sussex Medical School, in England, with raising awareness of podo.

"Less than a decade ago, podo wasn't even included in the World Health Organization's (WHO's) list of neglected tropical diseases--or NTDs," he said. "Thanks to Dr. Davey's efforts, podo is now on WHO's radar."

To combat the problem of bilateral cataract blindness in Ethiopia, Dr. Thomas has enlisted the help of James Guzek, M.D., an ophthalmologist from the northwestern United States. Dr. Guzek has already made four trips to Ethiopia.

Dr. Thomas' foundation collaborates with the Daughters of Charity, an order of Catholic sisters, founded in France in the 17th century, dedicated to working with the "poorest of the poor." On the team's first trip to Ethiopia to perform cataract surgeries, word spread quickly through the villages and the government was needed to control the crowds.

Dr. Guzek was so dedicated to performing cataract surgery that he barely took off time to sleep--let alone tour the countryside. "Every half hour I sleep or do something else means that I leave someone blind," he told Dr. Thomas.

During their mission trips, the team selects only those patients with bilateral cataract blindness, repairing one eye to maximize the numbers helped.

More recently, the clinic hired a full-time Ethiopian ophthalmologist, with funding from the Tropical Health Alliance Foundation.

"I'm most excited about our ability to hire a full-time ophthalmologist," Dr. Thomas said. "It's nice for teams to travel on medical mission trips, but our impact on the blind population will be greatly multiplied with a full-time Ethiopian ophthalmologist on staff."

In addition, the foundation is sponsoring the training of a nurse ophthalmic surgeon who will also be able to perform cataract surgery in the near future. "Our goal is to restore one good eye to 20,000 patients with bilateral blindness."

Dr. Thomas recalls an elderly blind gentleman and his dedicated granddaughter that he met during his most recent trip to Ethiopia. She patiently led her grandfather to the clinic and waited with him most of the day for his turn to be evaluated. The next day, they returned to find out that he was a candidate for surgery.

The procedure was performed, the bandages applied, and she once again led him home. The following day, they were at the clinic for removal of the bandages. At first, the grandfather saw a bright light; then he saw his granddaughter for the first time.

The next day, she was free to return to school and play with her friends. "Her smile returned," Dr. Thomas said. "That's why I do this."

For more information about the Tropical Health Alliance Foundation and its outreach, visit www.thaf.org.

This story was originally published in the Aug. 31 edition of Today.

El Venado lies on the southern tip of Honduras, facing the Pacific Ocean, and is one of the desperately poor areas of the nation, with several hundred residents. The medical needs of the area are typical of those in any poor, undeveloped community.

According to the World Health Organization, infectious and parasitic diseases are the leading casuses of death in Honduras. Gastroenteritis and tuberculosis are serious problems. Diseases such as influenza, malaria, typhoid and pneumonia--once believed to be under control--have returned in force because of a lack of preventive measures. Due to a poor diet high in carbohydrates, many of the residents of El Venado have high blood-sugar levels exceeding 400 mg/dl. Skin ailments are common.

Of course, any trip to El Venado is highlighted by the turtle research of Dr. Dunbar, an associate professor in the School of Public Health's department of earth and biological sciences. Classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), the olive ridley comes ashore during the months of August through November, offering a unique opportunity to see the turtles lay their eggs.

Travel to El Venado is among the most convenient SIMS trips with a short flight to Honduras: Within half a day, one can offer medical services to the poor or search the shores for turtles.

For more information about other SIMS trips, visit lluglobal.com/site/c.msKRL6PNLrF/b.5551113/k.BCBE/SIMS.htm.

A version of this story was first published on the Loma Linda University School of Pharmacy Web site.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the official conservation status of the olive ridley sea turtle. The status of the olive ridley sea turtle is vulnerable.

The Loma Linda team, which included medical, technical, and administrative support personnel, was in Egypt from April 26 to May 11. Members of the Loma Linda delegation included:

• Richard H. Hart, M.D., president of Loma Linda University
• Leonard L. Bailey, M.D., chair of surgery at Loma Linda University Medical Center, surgeon-in-chief at Loma Linda University Children's Hospital, and pioneering infant heart transplant specialist
• Shamel A. Abd-Allah, M.D., chief of pediatric critical care at Loma Linda University Children's Hospital and associate professor of pediatrics at Loma Linda University School of Medicine
• Aijaz Hashmi, M.D., a cardiologist at Loma Linda University Medical Center and Loma Linda University Children's Hospital who specializes in adult congenital heart diseases and pediatric cardiology
• Nahidh Hasaniya, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of cardiovascular and thoracic surgery, and associate professor of pediatrics, at Loma Linda University School of Medicine
• Jim Eguchi, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics at the Loma Linda University School of Medicine and pediatric critical care physician at Loma Linda University Children's Hospital
• Mudit Mathur, M.D., assistant professor of critical care medicine at the Loma Linda University School of Medicine. Along with Dr. Abd-Allah, Dr. Mathur taught the last two days of the pediatric critical care course.
• Jerry Daly, M.A., M.S.L.S., associate director of the Global Health Institute at Loma Linda University
• Jan Zumwalt, M.S., M.B.A., associate director of the Global Health Institute at Loma Linda University

According to Adam Shaban, M.D., a physician licensed in Egypt and studying for his California licensing boards in Loma Linda, the team performed 12 to 14 difficult procedures--surgeries that had seldom been performed in Egypt before--on infants. An average of 10 to 15 Egyptian medical students or residents observed the operations. He notes that the overseas heart surgery team last visited Egypt in 2008.

"The potential for educating the next wave of Egyptian physicians and surgeons was tremendous," Dr. Shaban said. He pointed out that pediatric cardiology surgery is not an established specialty in Egypt.

"Here in the U.S., we have many luxuries that we take for granted," he said. "But in Egypt, adult cardiologists routinely operate on pediatric patients. We're trying to change that."

For his part, Dr. Abd-Allah made sure the pediatric critical care course was not taken lightly.

"The students had textbooks and he gave them an exam at the end of the course," Dr. Shaban said. "They had to pay attention and a lot of them did well."

One of the highlights of the trip was a banquetin honor of the Loma Linda delegation sponsored by Al-Orman, a charitable organization dedicated to eradicating poverty, and improving medical and social conditions in the Middle East. Dr. Shaban pointed out that Dr. Hart was able to attend the banquet.

"Although his schedule did not allow him to be with us the entire time, he was able to meet with Osama Ibrahim, M.D., president of the University of Alexandria; Ashraf Saad, M.D., dean of the Faculty of Medicine; and Khaled Karara, M.D., chair of the cardiothoracic surgery program," Dr. Shaban said. "They presented medals to Dr. Hart and other members of the team."

While Dr. Shaban views international cooperation as an important way for Loma Linda University Medical Center to share its mission "to make man whole" with individuals in other parts of the world, he noted that for himself and other trip participants, the greatest reward was seeing what great improvements their work made in the lives of their little patients.

"Each patient became like family to us," he said. "We weren't going to rest until the patient walked out the door. That was something that amazed me. Without these operations, the babies would have had short-lived, poor-quality lives. Watching them leave, knowing they could now look forward to normal, healthy lives, was just incredible!

"We were also reunited with some of the patients from the previous trip in 2008," he said. "To see them four years later, living healthy lives, was a true blessing. It was great to learn that the Egyptian physicians and surgeons had successfully performed so many complex procedures that we taught them on previous trips. They have now trained at least four generations of residents, so you can imagine how many people have already benefited. It's very exciting to be part of this!"

This story was originally published in the July 27, 2012, edition of Today.

Senator Gloria Negrete McLeod of the 32nd Senate District awarded Mr. Arrington, along with 11 other honorees.

Mr. Arrington was acknowledged for his service as a 15-year football coach and as a longtime supporter of patients in the PossAbilities program. This program serves the physical, social, and emotional needs of the disabled in this community.

Now confined to a wheelchair, Mr. Arrington lost the ability to use his legs when he was shot in the back six times while celebrating an offer to try out for the Los Angeles Raiders. Since the incident, Mr. Arrington has coached at Pop Warner, San Bernardino Valley College, and the University of Redlands' summer football camp.