‘Amazing’ event gets city moving

A crowd of 1,112 runners, walkers and wheelchair users took to the streets of downtown Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Health Eighth Annual Amazing Half Marathon, 5K and One-Mile Family Fun Run on March 4. The focus of the event is on encouraging children and families to develop a lifetime of healthy habits. Our Lady of the Lake is part of the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System. Clockwise from left: Destin Ware is cheered across the finish line by Danny Hyunh, a volunteer with Ainsley’s Angels of America, an organization dedicated to inclusivity in endurance events. Adrian Brumfield, health educator at Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Health, leads a warmup for young racers along with Dash, a big blue gator who is the event’s mascot. A throng of participants charges across the starting line as the event begins.

with local nonhospital-based organizations to do community needs assessments and then present their findings to the other medical students,” said Todd, who has been with the program since the first graduating class in 2012. Others have developed online resources such as a blog on health care topics and a Twitter account that offered healthy recipes. Todd added, “Some speak to high school students throughout the region on depression, suicide prevention and the dangers of vaping.”

Brown, the emergency department doctor, is one of the medical professionals at St. Claire who volunteer to work with the students in the Rural Physician Leadership Program. While she was a student in the program, Brown particularly had appreciated the opportunities for one-onone, hands-on experience under a doctor’s supervision, a benefit of the small class size. Brown now makes that expe- rience possible for leadership program students.

While in the program, Brown also determined that emergency medicine suited her better than surgery, which she had considered.

“My job is a perfect fit, and really fun,” Brown said. “I get to talk to people of all ages, help them with minor and major injuries, even sometimes help them in grieving — and because this is rural medicine, I realize I may be the only doctor they see.” That’s just one difference between practicing medicine in a rural area versus an urban area.

Todd pointed out another. “Often, it all comes down to distances,” she said. “When you run out of supplies in an urban hospital, you can get what you need from another facility. If you run out of something in a rural area, you may have to send a police car to pick it up an hour’s drive or more away, so you have to practice with the mindset of conserving resources, using everything in an efficient and frugal fashion.”

‘I feel like I’m home’

Another difference is that doctors, medical students and program staff often encounter patients at local stores, festivals or just out for a walk. That appeals to Sheyanne Trent, 25, a thirdyear medical student from Breathitt County. “I love the family environment here,” she said. “When I first came to Morehead, I fell in love with the campus, with the program and with its mission. I feel like I’m home.”

Trent arrived in Morehead with an abiding interest in women’s health, and she’s sticking with her goal to become an obstetrician/gynecologist. She recalled how satisfying it was one day in training to help a young single mom having a planned cesarean section delivery. While another medical student assisted the physician, Trent sat with the woman, talking and holding a cold cloth on her head when she struggled with nausea.

“I got to know more about her, and I found her so inspiring,” Trent said. “Also, when the older ladies came in for their breast exams or other cancer screenings, by the time they left, I knew all about them, and we were friends. That human connection is so important.”

After her graduation in 2024, Trent will seek out a medical residency in her chosen field, she said. After that, she intends to practice medicine in rural Kentucky, maybe even in her home county. She said, “I’m so grateful for all the people who have been involved in my becoming a doctor, and I want to come back and help take care of them, bring accessible care to them.”