Students Back on Boone Campus After Hurricane Helene Disruption
Wake PA is extremely grateful that the 24 first-year students, five faculty and one staff member connected to our Boone campus made it safely through the flooding and destruction caused by Hurricane Helene in late September.
During the storm, PA Program Director Brian Peacock stayed in contact with first-year students and Boone personnel as much as cellular service would allow. Second-year students completing clinical rotations in affected areas were closely followed by Director of Clinical Education Andrea McKinnond and Program Coordinator Lori Cook. Many students were affected by the flooding, but after caring for themselves and their neighbors, most returned to their rotations to deliver care to patients.
The Sunday after the storm, about half of the first-year students from Boone came to 525@Vine in Winston-Salem for personal care items, snacks, bedding and support. Salem College, the Northwest Area Health Education Center, and Wake Forest University Global Health helped provide housing for displaced students.
Most students from the Boone campus joined their peers for classes in Winston-Salem for two weeks following the storm. Levine Hall, Wake PA’s home on the Appalachian State campus, reopened October 14, allowing faculty and students to return to their normal classroom and lab spaces.
To help Boone students and personnel recover from Helene, the Wake Forest University School of Medicine created the PA Studies Disaster Relief Fund. Donations enabled students to replace and repair damaged property and relocate to alternative housing where needed.
The PA program established a campus in Boone in 2014 to encourage future PAs to pursue careers in underserved rural areas. The 24 first-year students in Boone and their 66 classmates on the Winston-Salem campus follow the same academic schedule, making it easier to blend the two cohorts during the temporary displacement.
Orientation Continues to Incorporate Community Service
For the third year in a row, Wake PA’s new student orientation included an afternoon of completing projects for local community service organizations. The activity has been a great opportunity for incoming students to get to know each other, faculty and staff members, and the communities where they are now living and learning.
This year, Wake PA partnered with the SECU Family House in Winston Salem, City Lights Ministry, Forsyth Backpack Program, Crossnore Communities for Children, Senior Adult Services, Ronald McDonald House, Winston-Salem Street School, Experiment in Self-Reliance, and OASIS, a domestic violence service near Boone.
Wake PA hosted orientation at the end of May. Other activities included a scavenger hunt to help students learn their way around 575 Vine and BGCME, a Winston-Salem Dash game, white coat fittings and portrait photos, and multiple information and advising sessions to make sure they were ready to begin Unit 1.
