UNC dental students provide free care on 'Deah Day' to honor slain Muslim students

RALEIGH (WTVD) -- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Adams School of Dentistry is honoring the memory of slain students Deah Barakat and Yusor Abu-Salha.

As part of the school's efforts for the sixth annual DEAH Day, dental students provided free dental care along with dozens of other community service projects.

Deah and his wife Yusor along with her sister Razan were killed in February 2015. Barakat was a second-year student at UNC Adams School of Dentistry. His wife was set to start there in the fall.

"I was in school with Deah in the hygiene department when he was a student. I remember he brought a Keurig machine for the student lounge," said Sommer Wisher with Wake Smiles.

Memories like those inspired Deah Day. Though it spells out Deah's name it's actually an acronym standing for "Directing Efforts and Honoring Deah and Yusor."

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"Normally we see uninsured adults here in Wake County. But students from UNC School of Dentistry are actually doing the care," Wisher said.

More than 200 volunteers participated in Deah Day, Rand Khasawneh, third-year dentistry student said it was an honor.

"When you have a toothache you don't stop thinking about it so to know you can relieve that for people and people are really in need here. They don't have access to the care because it is expensive. To kinda mitigate it a little bit, do our part. That's a really good feeling," Khasawneh said.