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On April 16, the Heritage College's first annual Public Service Day was held. The event was hosted by the SGA Student Directors of Community Outreach. Ashleigh Chiedo, OMS II, founded the event with the vision to "have an event for years to come that not only upholds our commitment to outreach as rising osteopathic physicians, but also allows us to live out the idea of three campuses, one community by performing acts of service on that day across all the campuses." Students from all three campuses served the community and earned TOUCH hours. The Public Service Day helped kick off National Osteopathic Medicine week.

By Ashleigh Chiedo, OMS-II, TOUCH Coordinator (2021-2022)

After much planning, this past Monday at Dublin we had a Donate and Dress Down Day to kick off the week leading up to our First Annual HCOM Public Service Day. This event allowed students to make canned good donations to our community partners, the Mid-Ohio Foodbank, while in return dressing in leisure clothes for class activities. With participation from years one and two, plus special contributions made by the second-year class officers, HCOM Dublin donated nearly 200 canned goods to the food pantry. In addition, 28 students participated in the grand opening of the Mid-Ohio Market, which is a free food market that allows customers who are eligible to shop the store with no cost. The mission is to provide access to healthy, nutrient dense food for those struggling to make ends meet. Students greeted patrons, assisted with check-in, enhanced the experience of shoppers with their aid and restocked items on the shelves. The Osteopathic Heritage Foundation provided funding to assist in the grand opening of this public health initiative. This was a wholesome way to start a tradition and kick off National Osteopathic Medicine Week!

By Ripal Patel, OMS II, TOUCH coordinator (2021-2022) 

For our very first HCOM Public Service Day, over 30 students seized the opportunity to volunteer throughout the Athens community. We provided free community health screenings at the Athens Farmer's Market, cleaned up the Eastside Community Garden, packed food for distribution for the Athens Food Pantry and served free meals through the United Campus Ministry. We are forever thankful for the ever-growing connections and community partnerships we have fostered and look forward to continuing on our paths of becoming osteopaths for outreach.

By Nidha Khan, OMS II, TOUCH coordinator (2021-2022), and Elizabeth Beran, OMS I, TOUCH coordinator (2022-2023)

The first annual Public Service Day at the Cleveland campus was a wonderful demonstration of our students’ commitment to caring for the community! We would like to thank each of the students who took time out of their busy schedules to take part in this event. Overall, we had about 24 students volunteer at Laura’s Home and five students volunteer at Habitat for Humanity Restore. We hope that this opportunity to volunteer in the community will help students learn more about the communities that we will serve in the future and inspire them to be osteopaths for outreach! Seeing these students work together to improve their community for the better is the true embodiment of our HCOM values. We are certain that these students will make us proud as physicians in the future.