LEBANON, Ore. (AP) - Medical students from across the country recently tackled a project that had nothing to do with surgery or a medical diagnosis, as they helped clean up McDowell Creek County Park between Lebanon and Sweet Home.
Students from 38 osteopathic medical colleges across the United States were attending the Council of Osteopathic Government Presidents conference at COMP-Northwest in Lebanon.
The annual conference always includes a student service project, reported the Albany Democrat-Herald (https://bit.ly/2kkAg0E).
According to county parks director Brian Carroll, the old adage “many hands make light work” was certainly true as the medical crew in one hour completed work that would have taken staff at least a day.
The volunteers removed debris from trails that had been damaged in recent winter storms, helped repair a staircase at the top of the falls and spread five yards of gravel at a picnic table area.
“I know for them it doesn’t seem like much, but for us it really helps out,” he said.
Carroll said he appreciated the work of the medical students, and the project also gave them a chance to see the scenic falls area while they were in Oregon.
Carroll added that so far, the parks have not experienced as much damage as in some other winters.
“We lost a really large cottonwood at Waterloo County Park,” Carroll said. “Knock on wood, we’ve actually fared better than in some recent winters when ice storms and high winds have done much more damage.”
Carroll speculated that perhaps those storms thinned out weaker trees.
“Last winter we had major damage to our boat ramps from flooding, especially on the North Santiam,” Carroll said. “So far, we haven’t had any reports of anything really severe.”
“We do remind visitors to our parks that they should look up now and then, just in case there might be a widow-maker hanging in a tree,” Carroll said.
Carroll said that water is turned off in the county parks that aren’t open in the winter, so he probably won’t know about any broken pipes until water is turned back on in the spring.
“We’ve had a lot of snow at Clear Lake, so we’ve been shoveling it off the roofs,” Carroll said. “It’s probably the most snow we’ve had since the really bad winter of 2006-07.”
Clear Lake remains open for boat and cabin rentals, Carroll said, although the lodge and restaurant are closed.
“We encourage anyone headed to Clear Lake to take chains, no matter what the other road conditions are,” Carroll said. “We’re not on the main road and we get a lot of snow, even when other places don’t. We plow and sand, but sometimes, even with studded tires, you need chains.”
The conference for the Council of Osteopathic Student Government Presidents touched on a variety of topics, including mental health awareness, women in leadership, and political advocacy.
The service project is a requirement for a school to host the annual conference.
Dylan Rodgers, president of the COMP-Northwest Class of 2019, applied in September to have WesternU COMP-Northwest host.
The Lebanon campus welcomed 72 student government presidents and vice presidents, as well as an additional 12 students who had previously served as student government leaders.
“I knew that the family-centered culture of the students, staff, and faculty of COMP-Northwest would provide for an awesome atmosphere for the COSGP to conduct their winter meeting,” Rodgers said. “I have an enormous amount of pride for our college, the people who create such a welcoming culture, and the beautiful area that we live in. I also wanted to give our students the opportunity to network and meet other osteopathic medical students from across the nation.”
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Information from: Albany Democrat-Herald, https://www.dhonline.com
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