Foot care at shelters benefits doctoral students, homeless

In a small, pungent corner room of the St. Francis Center homeless shelter Saturday, a handful of doctoral students filed away at unkempt toenails of people without health care. University of Colorado medical students in the Underserved Interprofessional Health Training and Education program chatted with about 75 homeless people at three shelters throughout the program's fourth annual day of foot care. Eighteen students and six faculty members clipped toenails, provided basic foot toiletries and checked for red flags such as bunions, open wounds, fractures and pre-cancerous spots, all of which their patients could not afford otherwise. Medical student Amy Beeson treats Jason Smith during the CU UNITE Foot Care Clinic at the St. Francis Center. Medical student Amy Beeson treats Jason Smith during the CU UNITE Foot Care Clinic at the St. Francis Center. (Craig F. Walker, The Denver Post) Jan Beezley, a nurse practitioner who has helped lead the program through its first four years, said the program gives students confidence to work in urban areas with unmet health needs after graduation. "These students are really mission-driven and motivated," Beezley said. "They've added this on top of med school." Ana Calderon, a second-year student in CU's family nurse practitioner program, said homeless people spend an average of four hours a day standing in lines. Working with the homeless on Saturday reflects her goal to help people without health care. "It's actually a privilege because this isn't part of my nurse practitioner program," Calderon said. "This is separate and supplemental." Calderon said she especially enjoyed hearing from multiple people about job interviews they had planned for the week ahead. "Thirty minutes soaking your feet and talking with someone about yourself is huge," Beezley said. "That just doesn't happen for the homeless." Mike Flynn, who has lived in transience for three years in Denver, was grateful just to walk to the laundromat without toe pain after the doctors-in-waiting diagnosed his ingrown toenail. "They dug it out, and it didn't even hurt that much," Flynn said. Read more: Foot care at shelters benefits doctoral students, homeless - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_25256597/foot-care-at-shelters-benefits-doctoral-students-homeless#ixzz2uqTfmTgE Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse Follow us: @Denverpost on Twitter | Denverpost on Facebook