WVSOM student Beau Links checks West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin's blood pressure at the State Fair of West Virginia on Aug. 19. WVSOM students offered blood pressure readings for fairgoers daily during the Fair.

GOVERNOR, STUDENTS TEAM UP FOR HEALTH
     Governor Joe Manchin and WVSOM students teamed up August 19 to focus on the importance of blood pressure readings.
     Manchin took advantage of a free blood pressure check on a stop at the MetroNews Talkline radio show during Governor's Day at the State Fair of West Virginia. The Governor challenged show host Hoppy Kercheval to "see who has the lowest blood pressure reading."
     Second-year medical students Beau Links, Julie Petersen, Lance Shinn and Anthony Basel checked Manchin, Kercheval and West Virginia Secretary of State Natalie Tennant. After Links recorded Manchin's blood pressure reading, the Governor raised a winner's fist indicating his reading was lower than Kercheval's.
     The Governor said that WVSOM's work in primary care medicine is making a difference in a state that suffers from a lack of health care providers.
     "What the osteopathic school has done for West Virginia is tremendous. It has given people like my brother the opportunity to become physicians and go back to small communities and provide primary care to people who would never get it."  The Governor was referring to his brother John Manchin, II, D.O., a 1978 WVSOM graduate who has a family medicine practice in Farmington and Fairmont, W.Va.
     WVSOM Acting President Michael Adelman, D.O., told Kercheval second-year students have offered free blood pressure checks at the Fair for 30 years. "In the last five years they have provided more than 17,000 blood pressure readings for fairgoers. When our students take blood pressures at the Fair it is a win for everyone. The students hone their medical and patient interaction skills and the community has an opportunity to receive a free check up on their health," Adelman said.
     Petersen, Class of 2013, said, "One of the things that drew me to WVSOM is the focus on service. I think it's great for WVSOM students to be at the Fair, because a big part of being a doctor is reaching out to people that may not always get served."