Photo courtesy of the Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine

Dr. Dixie Rawlins, dean and executive vice president of the Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine, distributes gifts to children in Honduras, where the school will also distibute shoes to children and adults who do not have proper footwear.

The Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine will provide free footwear to communities in need across the world after receiving a generous donation.

VCOM received 35,000 pairs of shoes to be sent to Honduras, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic. The donor is Foot Levelers, a Roanoke-based company that makes custom orthotics.

The shoes will help prevent foot injuries and infections in places where children and adults often go without proper footwear.

VCOM has had an affiliation with Foot Levelers for several years, according to Dean Sutphin, assistant vice president for international outreach at VCOM.

Sutphin had a friend at Foot Levelers who let him know the shoes were available, and the partnership has been developed over the past month.

VCOM has also partnered with Premier Transfer & Storage and Burch Propreties to ship and store the shoes. Premier donated seven trailers to transport the shoes from Roanoke to the Burch Enterprises warehouse in Christiansburg for storage.

According to Sutphin, the footwear donation is a small part of VCOM's global health initiatives.

Students and doctors at VCOM contribute their time in Honduras, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic, where first- and second-year medical students take mission trips to set up makeshift clinics in schools and churches.

After the second year, students can take a 30-day rotation in one of these countries at clinics operated by the school year-round.

Sutphin said that the people served by these clinics often lack basics such as proper shoes and clothing.

He shared a story of a 12-year-old girl who was pregnant and came into one of the clinics in Honduras to give birth. She was barefoot and had no adult with her.

The students working there took up a collection for shoes and clothes for both the mother and her newborn child and enrolled them in a yearlong health care program with the clinic.

Contaminated soil and poor sanitation in these countries can lead to infections from bacteria, parasites and fungi, which can enter the body through bare feet, Sutphin said.

Sutphin also sees the project as preventive medicine, because it will teach people how to stay clean and prevent infection.

"We're systematically helping the people in these communities help themselves," he said.

Sutphin said the school is setting an example in the field of global health.

"I don't think any medical school in the country can match what we do," he said.