Dr. Rebecca Edgeworth Honored with ‘Volunteer of the Year’ Award by Las Vegas Asian Chamber of Commerce
For nearly a decade, Dr. Rebecca Edgeworth has worked closely with the Tzu Chi Buddhist Foundation, doing her best to provide healthcare to Southern Nevadans without access.
“I’ve been working with Tzu Chi since 2013 when I first worked to educate at-risk populations about the importance of testing and vaccinating for Hepatitis B,” she recalled.
Dr. Edgeworth’s relationship with Tzu Chi has only grown since then. She began volunteering during their medical and dental outreach events within the community, and in 2014, became the medical director of the Las Vegas Tzu Chi Medical Association.
The Asian Chamber of Commerce recently honored Dr. Edgeworth with their “Volunteer of the Year” Award during the organization’s annual Gala, an honor she received from her nearly decade-long volunteer efforts with Tzu Chi and additional community organizations.
“I mainly do this work to help the community I love, and to connect our future practitioner students to our community. It is especially satisfying to do the work you love and to also be recognized for that work,” she said.
Since joining Touro’s School of Physician Assistant Studies as a full-time faculty member in 2019, Dr. Edgeworth has made it a priority to partner Touro’s students with Tzu Chi for their volunteer efforts.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, bilingual students have done large-scale vaccination clinics where they administered vaccines to elderly Asian patients lacking the access to COVID-19 vaccines.
“Students who spoke Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Burmese, Tagalog and other languages all came together to do several large vaccine events that helped hundreds of seniors get vaccines,” Dr. Edgeworth said.
Since business have re-opened following COVID, Touro has continued its partnership with Tzu Chi for a medical/ophthalmology event to assist low-income seniors, in addition to a larger medical/dental event at Rancho High School in December 2021.
A large-scale medical and dental event is scheduled to take place in Downtown Las Vegas as Touro’s students and other members of the community partner to provide free healthcare and dental services to those without access to healthcare on May 1.
Dr. Edgeworth is proud of the work Touro has done with Tzu Chi and is excited for what the future holds for their partnership.
“I am so honored to be recognized by the Asian Chamber of Commerce, an amazing organization in our community,” she said. “Although I volunteer and help numerous populations and organizations in Las Vegas, I’m especially proud of the work we do with the Tzu Chi Buddhist Foundation.”
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