Marlee Mason
Pre-med Exercise Science student, and graduate as of yesterday, Marlee Mason (Mesa, AZ), is part of the student-led non-profit, Western Reperfusion (see last article). Marlee serves Native American communities through the program by creating Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD) education materials, designing newsletters, and working as photographer and videographer. Western Reperfusion distributes newsletters to IHS clinics in order to spread awareness about the program to potential partners and surrounding health clinics near the reservations. For Marlee, the most rewarding part of this experience has been being able to serve her Native American friends. Indigenous peoples are a population that has been, and continues to be, underserved in healthcare. Marlee is driven to find people who are unaware of the difficult repercussions of PAD and to help them increase their quality of life by becoming aware of the disease early, thus providing long-term improvements to their daily lives. Marlee is helping the Western Reperfusion team to increase communication about, and treatment for, PAD by working to make Western Reperfusion a long-standing program that delivers education and screenings to these underserved communities. According to Marlee, simple awareness is how the community can best support Western Reperfusion, “PAD isn’t a mainstream chronic disease, so, other than funding, the biggest need right now is to spread the word. If anyone has friends or family who are part of a Native population, let them know that this service is free, and to contact Western Reperfusion.” To directly support Western Reperfusion, visit their gofundme account!