James January-February 2025 web - Flipbook - Page 82
“People within agriculture and
in those farming communities know
it’s hard, but they don’t know the
impact that it has on farmers’ mental
health,” said John McElveen, director
of the Georgia Agricultural Wellness
Alliance. “We’re just trying to make
those conversations happen because
we know that’s an important part of
mitigating those negative impacts
of stress. And we’re trying to equip
people within the community, around
those farm families, to be trained, to
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know what to ask, know how to support and know how to refer people to
resources.”
PCOM South Georgia featured
booths and personnel from Admissions, Diversity and Community
Relations, Public Safety, Body Donor
Program and Simulation Center. The
Simbulance, designed to simulate the
experience of providing medical care
in an ambulance, was also on display
to demonstrate its features to interested Expo visitors.
“The initiative went above and
beyond anything we could have imagined this year,” noted Marla Golden,
dean of the osteopathic medicine program at PCOM South Georgia. “PCOM
South Georgia’s mission is all about
providing services to rural and underserved populations. People in the agricultural industry work so hard–often in
remote areas– and it can be difficult to
access healthcare information because
of time, location or other factors. We
wanted to make it available to them.”
Other educational institutions
participating in the initiative included
Mercer University School of Medicine,
Southern Regional Technical College, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural
College and Thomas University. The
Southwest Georgia Council on Aging
also had a booth sharing information
about its services for seniors and
adults with disabilities.
Cindy Montgomery is the Public Relations and
Social Media Manager for PCOM South Georgia.
