Elizabeth H. Kuge, OMS-IV, B.S.

As a Lead Peer Mentor, I helped welcome the incoming Class of 2023 during orientation this year! I was also selected to lead the Intellectual Wellness seminar with three of my peers, in which we executed a Privilege Circle activity, followed by discussion about the importance of diversity awareness in our community.

After auditioning to give the orientation Family Day welcome speech in April, I was selected! I worked with Dr. Haider and Dean Schlueter to write my speech, a message of resilience, worth, and my own challenge to the Class of 2023: "When medical school makes you feel most lost, I challenge you to dig deep, and remember why you chose, and why you were chosen to this higher calling." I felt empowered and honored to have been given this opportunity to address the incoming class, their families, and friends.

As a Peer Mentor, part of my duties are to ensure that my mentees have opportunities to meet all aspects of wellness during their medical school career. Though my entire group of ladies couldn't make it to our first get together, the rest of us had fun getting to know each other better over some sushi, followed by a variety of desserts!

In July, I became an Ultrasound Scholar, in which I  volunteer to help first year students learn how to use ultrasound in lab, and guide them in finding anatomical structures and organs. Dr. Amanda Toney, who is the instructor for all Ultrasound Lab at RVU, was going to be leading an ultrasound workshop for practicing physicians at the Colorado Society of Osteopathic Medicine's conference. She requested that some Ultrasound Scholars attend and help lead this workshop, so I decided to go!  In the image, I have frozen a view of the glenohumeral joint and am pointing out the glenoid labrum and showing physicians where the needle for a GH joint injection should be placed!

The Student National Medical Association (SNMA) is the largest national student-run organization that supports underrepresented and minority medical students. I was honored to resurrect this club on RVU's campus and to inspire my student body to celebrate diversity! Regardless of the specialty you choose, Diversity Matters, and that is the message we are trying to share. At the beginning of this school year, there were only 4 members of the SNMA Club. Over the duration of two lunch periods, the SNMA Club garnered over 70+ students who were interested in its mission and joined - an overwhelming success!

I got to learn all about macro and micronutrients while also learning how to make a delicious Pad Thai! This is the first year that RVU is executing a 4-part nutrition series that teaches medical students about Integrative Medicine through cooking healthy meals. I think this realm is going to have a major role in the healthcare of my patients in the future, and is a topic that I strive to become more knowledgeable in.

Casa de Paz is an organization that works to provide visits and emotional support for refugees that are kept at the ICE Detention Center in Aurora, Colorado. Greg Mortimer (center) is a volunteer coordinator who traveled to our campus to host a training session for SNMA Club Members interested in serving and volunteering to visit with the refugees. Approximately 25 students attended this training session -- my goal is to get all of these students to go for at least one Detention Center visit to give back to this underserved community. 

Here's Dr. Lebell practicing his newly learned acupuncture techniques on me! During the Alternative Pain Management workshop, we learned about an acupuncture technique that can easily be applied to the ear, and works to help patients detoxify from medications and stay calm during withdrawals. Amazing stuff!

As the RVU Chapter President, I attended the Student National Medical Association's Regional Medical Education Conference and Regional Leadership Institute conferences! I brought our two first year representatives, Nadira Matin and Sebastian Ramos, OMS-Is, to also experience their first medical school conference. We learned about the importance of our IMPACT factor, of diversity in medicine, and how we can contribute to spreading diversity awareness. I also got to participate in a Stop the Bleed activity, as well as present my research!

As a part of our campaign to bring awareness towards Violence Prevention, I partnered SNMA with AMWA Club to bring Jenelle Goodrich, the founder of a nonprofit organization, "From Silenced to Saved" to our campus to talk about the victimology of sexual trafficking victims as well as the prevalence of sexual trafficking occurring in Colorado. As future physicians, I strongly believe we need to become more aware of our surroundings and the violence that happens so that we can empathize and be more sensitive towards treating patients who are victims of sexual trafficking. Bringing in experts to educate us is one step towards achieving that goal.  

This year, my research team and I submitted our abstract to present at RVU's annual Research Appreciation Day (RAD). After almost a year of solid, dedicated work, we were able to create a poster with our findings, and are working towards publishing in the near future! We could not have done this without the guidance of our mentor, Dr. Ross, and without the help of our statistician, Dr. Zapata (L middle). 
My team includes: myself, SD David Siemann, SD Kevin Kuuskevere, and SD Daniel Horne.

In celebration of diversity and the spread of international culture on our campus, I had the honor of hosting this year's International Feast of Flavors! Faculty, students, and staff brought in over 25 delicious, traditional dishes, from Spanakopita, to Kimbap, to Beef Bourguinon, and Channey. We feasted together in an open potluck and shared the meanings of our dishes with each other. SNMA also raised money during this event for our Ellis Elementary School Book Fair, in which we are donating books to the 3rd grade class as a service project! We raised over $200 at this event!

In celebration of our LGBTQ+ community at RVU, SNMA Club took the initiative to host RVU's first ever PRIDE Week! Students in SNMA and I worked hard to create a rainbow paint chip wall, create alliance posters for students to pledge themselves as advocates of the LGBTQ+ population, as well as host a Don't Table It, Let's Talk About It event teaching others about major events in LGBTQ+ history and the significance of the different Pride Flags. We also gave out free Pronoun Buttons for students to wear on their white coats! 

Thanks to previous connections I made with Dr. Andrea Austin at RVU last year, I had the most tremendous experience shadowing her in the Resuscitation area of the LA-County+ USC Medical Center. Since it was Christmas time, I made homemade sugar cookies to bring for the staff, and had fun making them EM themed! Shadowing in the ED at least once a year reignites my passion for medicine, and reminds me of what I'm working towards -- becoming a compassionate doctor. The patient population at LAC-USC is different from anything I've encountered-- there are so many assaulted, trauma, drug-overdose, and homeless people, and it takes an empathetic soul to care for them. I hope to one day have the privilege to advocate for such an impacted, vulnerable population.  

​SNMA Club had the opportunity to bring Nadelle Payne, a deaf woman, to our campus to enlighten students about her experiences as a patient with a hearing disability. She told us of a time when she had to go the Emergency Dept after sustaining a head injury. Her son was too young to interpret fluently for her, and the hospital was unable to provide an ASL interpreter. Nadelle emphasized the importance of having interpreters for every language, and that to best communicate with deaf patients is to try to use gestures, try to have patience, and try to understand them. Her perspective on treating people with disabilities gave me better insight as to how to provide care for all of my patients, regardless of disability. We were very fortunate to have her come and speak to us.

​This month we celebrate Black History Month. A group of SNMA students came together for our monthly tabling series: Don't Table It, Let's Talk About It, in which we developed interactive learning activities to educate other students and faculty about Past, Present, and Future Black History. Later during the week, one of our students' mothers prepared Nigerian food to share with our school (left photo). We paired the cultural food immersion with watching a short clip from the documentary "13th", and ended the lunch activity with a discussion about systemic racism and the cultural divide between the Black community and the White community. This was the inaugural Black History Month celebration at RVU, and I am incredibly proud to have been a part of its development.

​Before RVU closed its doors due to the spread of COVID-19, I had the honor of presenting my original research at the Association of Military Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons Annual Meeting in Vegas. It was something else to be surrounded by so many military physicians who served for the US, as well as build bonds with other military student physicians from other institutions in the Western US. My great friend and colleague, Amanda Sniadach, OMS-II, represents the Army uniform on the Left. Dan, my research colleague, and I pose with our poster in the center. President Dr. Adams of RVU, who is also Rear Admiral of the US Navy, takes a photo with Dan and me on the Right. I'm so proud to be a student at a nationally recognized, military friendly school. At AMOPS, RVU won the award for Chapter of the Year!

Fellow Student Doctor Mercedes Harvey and I were selected to revive the Professional Appearance Committee at the end of first year. We worked hard to select new items to add to the student clothing store, design a new RVU logo for the clothes, recruit students to model the new clothes, and create flyers, posters, and order forms to see this initiative succeed. From our first two sales, we have made over a $500 profit, which will be going towards new student gym equipment and eventually a Student Food Pantry!

I joined the fiction book club! The July book was Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. The story follows Kya, the Marsh Girl, who learns to survive while being ostracized from society. I really loved the imagery, how the story unfolds over the course of Kya's lifetime, and the stunning surprise ending!

I was surprised to discover that I was the only second year student on the Colorado campus to receive the first RVU Diversity Scholarship! Having advocated for diversity awareness throughout my first year as a Days of Diversity Ambassador, and showcasing Diversity as one my own values, I could not be happier to be recognized for my ambitions to celebrate being unique! The cherry on top was hearing that this news was also publicized by the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM).

August's book was Here and Now and Then, by Mike Chen. It explored the realm of time travel, but was written in a style that was more focused on the story rather than the nitty-gritty details of how time travel works. I actually really liked this book. Even though the character development was lacking, I felt the strong themes of parenthood, father-daughter relationships, and survival.

For the second year in a row, I attended the CMS Annual Meeting. This year I learned about the Candor Act recently passed in Colorado, which allows healthcare professionals to have an honest discussion with a patient or his/her family in the event of an adverse medical outcome. This allows physicians to communicate with the patients about what steps are being taken to prevent similar occurrences from happening in the future, while also giving the patient full disclosure on what exactly happened. After the conference, friend and fellow Student Doctor Stephanie Barlow and I enjoyed exploring the Denver Museum of Natural History and Science, and then dressed to impress during the inauguration of the new CMS president, Dr. David Markenson.

One major goal I have as the RVU SNMA President is to bring about diversity awareness on our campus by facilitating interactive tabling events in a series called, "Don't Table It, Let's Talk About It!" This month, we kicked off the series by covering National Hispanic Heritage Month. Several students in SNMA chose countries to find cultural information on, and we created an interactive session to educate our peers on our findings! I delved into Cuba, and found that not only do physicians make a $30 monthly salary, but also that the Doctor : Patient ratio is higher there than in the United States! 

This was my first time attending ACEP, and I lucked out that it was in Denver! I had the opportunity to attend the Residency Fair, listen to talks on Critical Care Ultrasound and Procedural Ultrasound, and even participate in a hands-on skills lab about Alternative Pain Management techniques (OMT + acupuncture)! My favorite part was meeting up with Dr. Lebell, an EM physician who I used to scribe for prior to beginning medical school. It was so much fun getting to catch up with him at the conference, and to teach him about osteopathic medicine!

In celebration of this traditionally Mexican holiday, a few of us in SNMA club created an "altar" with facts about how to celebrate El Dia de Los Muertos. We also provided Pan Dulce for students to partake in, and also set up a skull coloring station for students to pay tribute to their loved ones! This brought our celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15 - Oct. 15) to a close!

As an Ultrasound Scholar, I was given the opportunity to volunteer as a patient model at this year's POCUS Fest, hosted at RVU, for medical and PA students in Colorado to enrich their ultrasound experience. I had the great pleasure of working with Dr. Victor Rao, radiologist and Director of Ultrasound Education at the University of South Carolina. Together, we taught over 100 students how to perform a Deep Vein Thrombosis Ultrasound. We initially found my "Mickey Mouse", the triad composed of my common femoral artery, common femoral vein, and great saphenous vein. Then, we followed the veins all the way down my leg. It was a great experience getting to donate my body for other's learning! 

I had the opportunity to practice my simple interrupted sutures in Global Medicine track today! Our task was to gather information to write a complete SOAP note, and then choose a pig's foot to suture. Foreign objects were placed in the lacerations, and it was my responsibility to remove them, then gather all my materials, from disinfectant, to anesthesia, to suture types and needle drivers, and perform my laceration repair. The purpose is to prepare us for when we are abroad in third world countries and lack the organized supplies or assistants to help us prepare for repairs. Overall a fantastic training exercise!

I participated in my first birthing simulation experience! Led by OBGYN Dr. Keeler, and with the help of Dr. Ross, we got to practice on Noelle, our birthing SimMan. It was such a crazy experience, especially since Dr. Ross added in the complication of eclampsia during Noelle's labor. My fellow Student Doctors, Sean Beckman and Hannah Chong, and I, worked to quickly come up with a pharmacological intervention to save Noelle and her baby. We may have failed, but hey, that's the joy of sim!

As the winner of the Portfolio Challenge, I was given the great opportunity to lead a workshop for first and second-year students at RVU on how to create a visually-appealing, content-rich, personal portfolio of their medical school journey. Open to only 15 students, my workshop taught students how to use the Wix website editor, as well as tailor their portfolios to themes that represent their identity. I stressed the importance of being yourself on the portfolio, of documenting their medical school journey, and showcasing the highlights and achievements that make them proud to be future doctors.

After participating in the SimScholar Workshop on Nov. 24, I created a team of all ladies to compete in this year's SimScholar competition! We practiced our teamwork skills to become proficient in managing acute patient pathology, and had the opportunity to demonstrate those skills in front of physicians and professionals during the competition. I learned the importance of communication while working on a team, as well as staying calm under pressure. What was most exciting was the thrill I felt while acutely caring for our patient with anaphylactic shock, and the joy I felt hearing the praise from the judges on my quick judgment and leadership. This was an experience I'll never forget! 

School started back in a flash, leaving very little time to put together something to highlight Mental Health and Disability Awareness. However, Miryam Ha, OMS-I, and I created a quick wall mural called "Mental Health Described in Typography" to emphasize different mental disorders and how they would be perceived through typography. This silent, yet impactful piece was displayed in the main hallway of our campus to remind others of the importance of mental health awareness and mindful wellness. 

​SNMA partnered with the Medical Career Collaborative program through Children's Hospital of CO to bring 60 underrepresented, underserved high schoolers to our campus to immerse them in the field of medicine. We created a day full of workshops-- Anatomy lab, Ultrasound, Airway Management, Suturing, Osteopathic techniques, and a COM/PA Panel. We ended the day with their own White Coat Ceremony, and hoped to have left an impact on them as they begin their journey towards becoming healthcare professionals.

This year, I finally made it out to see my beautiful peers perform at The Vagina Monologues. All the proceeds were donated to Safehouse Denver, an organization that provides shelter for female victims of domestic violence. A total of $6,576 was raised, which was enough to provide 90 nights of shelter for victimized women. That night, I heard story after story appreciating the very anatomy that makes a woman a woman. Some stories made me laugh, some made me cry, but all in all, it was a phenomenal night to recognize the talents of my peers, donate towards a great cause, and celebrate all that is involved with being a woman.