Health and Fitness : Hawkeye Community College and Des Moines University Partner for Iowa’s Health

Des Moines University Medicine and Hawkeye Community College's Health Sciences have formed an alliance to increase medicine and health sciences education in the state of Iowa. The partnership with Hawkeye Community College, located in Waterloo, Iowa, will provide a more streamlined pathway for students interested in occupational therapy to train and practice.
"This partnership opportunity developed through relationship building with Hawkeye's Occupational Therapy Assistant program. We wanted to build a bridge for OTAs interested in continuing their education and earning an occupational therapy degree," says Diana Feldhacker, Ph.D., O.T.D., OTR/L, BCPR, DMU's Doctor of Occupational Therapy Department chair and program director "Beyond that, we are excited to collaborate with all of Hawkeye's programs to create a career path for future occupational therapists."

By fostering academic and career development, this partnership is vital for ensuring access to quality care in Iowa's communities and helping meet the pressing need for more health care workers across the region. "By creating opportunities for students to continue their education in Iowa, we are building a pipeline of health care professionals who will stay and work in Iowa," said Cindy Koehn, M.A. OTR/L, Hawkeye's occupation therapy assistant program director.

"By partnering with DMU, we are giving our students a direct and accelerated route to a doctoral degree in occupational therapy. This collaboration highlights our commitment to affordability and building a pipeline of well-trained professionals who will strengthen our health care systems," says Lynn LaGrone, provost and vice president of academic affairs at Hawkeye Community College.

The DMU and Hawkeye partnership agreement offers students the following benefits:

Partnership Benefits

The DMUI and Hawkeye partnership offers students several advantages including:

• Reserved Seats - A set number of seats are reserved annually for Hawkeye Community College students in DMU's Doctor of Occupational Therapy programs.
• Competitive Selection - Eligibility is based on grade point average, relevant observation hours observation or work experience, a recommendation from their faculty, and other academic achievements.

The partnership agreement takes effect immediately. Students interested in learning more are encouraged to contact Cindy Koehn, program director at Hawkeye Community College at cindy.koehn@hawkeyecollege.edu or the DMU admissions team at admissions@dmu.edu.