Brian's School

Note: the following entry was written by Brian Grimwood.

Since some people may be curious to know what has happened to me ever since I left Oregon, I thought I'd go ahead and post a few things on the Grimwood blog here. On the way down to Arizona, I got to stay at the home of Stephanie's aunt and uncle near Sacramento, her parents' home in Lancaster, and the home of an old friend of mine (Moses Nasser) in California. I also was happy to hang out with Jennifer while I was down there in Rancho Cucamonga, and we ate at an old family favorite Mexican restaurant, Don Jose. Moses was my best friend in elementary school, but since we went to different junior high schools we lost contact for many years... until he treated Jennifer at a clinic in Rancho Cucamonga! As it turns out, he became a D.O. (doctor of osteopathic medicine), and that is exactly what I will be in a few years. For those who may not know, D.O.s are medical doctors just like M.D.s; the only difference is that D.O.s receive additional training in the musculoskeltal system and can do manipulations. D.O.s and M.D.s share equal rights and responsibilities in the world of health care, and both can be found practicing in any medical specialty. So really, there is practically no difference between the two. At the present time I am considering going into Family Medicine or Internal Medicine, although I have also thought about doing Radiology. Any one of them would be very interesting and lots of fun.

The school I am attending is called A.T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona. (Andrew Taylor Still, M.D., D.O. was a surgeon in the state of Missouri. He noticed that the musculoskeletal system played a key role in health and as a result he developed osteopathic medicine. He founded the first D.O. school in Kirksville, Missouri in 1892--just three years before chiropractic was discovered by D.D. Palmer in Davenport, Iowa. The Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine is a very reputable school, and I am honored to be a part of their relatively new sister campus in Mesa, Arizona.) During orientation last week, our class of 107 students was informed that we were selected out of 2800 applicants. It's amazing to think that for every seat in the class, there were 25 applicants competing for that seat, and I was lucky enough to get one.

Aside from the reputation of the school, one of the major reasons I chose this school was that I had the possibility of returning back home to Portland after the first year to start clinic. The school keeps us in Mesa for one year, and then sends us out to various community health centers (CHCs) to start clinic--the school is affiliated with eleven CHCs scattered across the country, and one of them just happens to be in Portland! Fortunately, I was able to get into the Portland CHC before it was full (since there are only 10 seats per CHC). I'll be glad to return to Portland once this first year is over... although I'm excited to be in school, it will be nice to be back with my family in beautiful Oregon.