Clark County group honors nursing prof for decade of organizing youth sports physical clinics

Clinical Associate Professor Melody Rasmor, second from left, received the Real Hero award from project sponsor representatives (left to right): Ryan Hart, Port of Vancouver USA; Chris Hill, Northwest Capital Mortgage; and Lorre Jaffe, Real Living The Real Estate Group.
Clinical Associate Professor Melody Rasmor, second from left, received the Real Hero award from project sponsor representatives (left to right): Ryan Hart, Port of Vancouver USA; Chris Hill, Northwest Capital Mortgage; and Lorre Jaffe, Real Living The Real Estate Group.

A decade of organizing sports physical clinics for Vancouver-area students made Melody Rasmor a “Real Hero” to Clark County leaders.

Rasmor is a family nurse practitioner and clinical assistant professor at the Washington State University College of Nursing Vancouver. She was recognized with the award at a recent ceremony hosted by the Learn Here Project, which showcases the education system in Southwest Washington. It’s part of an economic development initiative – Land Here, Live Here, Learn Here – created by a nonprofit business leaders group.

The clinics Rasmor founded are held annually, typically in the spring. They bring together graduate and undergraduate nursing students and preceptors to provide sports physicals to about 100 students in the Evergreen School District, she said.

Rasmor launched the initiative when she was teaching a graduate nursing course in physical assessment. Students “needed to practice on real live bodies,” she said.

School district officials were receptive because providing convenient and inexpensive sports physicals was another way to keep students in sports and keep them in school. The clinic asks a $20 donation for a physical, but no student is turned away if they can’t pay, Rasmor said. The money raised goes to the Renee Hoeksel Nursing Leadership Scholarship, so “it’s a win-win for the students, the University, and the Evergreen School District,” Rasmor said.

She said she’s been approached by a medical clinic in Vancouver to help out in the future, which will make the effort more sustainable. “That’s kind of cool,” Rasmor said.