Contact:

Roger Greene

Director, Public Relations/Marketing

(212) 410-8147

rgreene@nycpm.edu

New York, NY – April 24, 2009 – On a recent Wednesday, seven NYCPM students, working under the supervision of Kevin T. Jules, DPM, Professor and Chair of the NYCPM Department of Surgical Sciences, volunteered at a Health Fair at Brooklyn public school 771@225.  Among those attending the Fair were a number of young, autistic and mentally- and emotionally-challenged students. 

The NYCPM students, Shellie Auguste, Magdalena De La Cruz, Kamran Farahani, Crystal Haskin, Michael Moharam, Helen Shin, and Naomie St. Pierre, performed foot screenings and talked with the children and teachers about foot care needs and foot health.  Dr. Jules described what a podiatrist does, took questions, and spoke about the importance of healthy feet for sports and other activities.  The volunteers gained insight into working with the children, and reported that it was very interesting to see the incidence of pes planus (progressive flatfoot deformity) in the autistic/mentally-challenged individual.

Timothy McCaul, the public school 771@225 teacher who coordinated the health fair, said about the NYCPM volunteers:  “Dr. Jules and his students worked beautifully with our children.  When Dr. Jules and his student volunteers first attended our health fair, I did not expect that many of my students would take off their shoes and socks so the doctor and podiatry students could see their feet.  However, once again this year, the calm, respectful and professional manner of the volunteers was great.  The way they spoke to my students made them relax, and before you knew it, almost everyone had their shoes and socks off.  This is not an easy task with many of my students, who usually follow a certain routine and do not like change.  However, after a few minutes, the children were having fun as their foot care needs were being discussed with their teachers and paraprofessionals.”