Is this a good nonclinical volunteering opportunity?

[meepmeep1]

Title says it all. Family has had a personal experience with high healthcare costs and I figured a good way to contribute to greater healthcare equity is by volunteering at the California HICAP program, where I will be helping seniors navigate Medicare, compare insurance plans to figure out how to get the best coverage for their buck, etc. I've heard that nonclinical volunteering should be directed to those less fortunate than myself (food bank, soup kitchen, homeless shelter, etc). Will this end up not counting for quite the same weight?

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[Mr.Smile12]

I presume you are working at a community or senior center and it is in-person?

I like it for systems competency, which is absolutely lacking among the preprofessional competencies (introduced in Becoming a Student Doctor) but required for ACGME residency competencies. For a lack of any other category, I think non-clinical volunteering.

Volunteer — Center for Health Care Rights

healthcarerights.org

 

[GoSpursGo]

In general I think this could be good. Would it be in person?

 

[LindaAccepted]

Looks like a good one to me.

 

[LizzyM]

In some regards, it may depend on the population served by the program. If these are college-educated, high income seniors, then it won't count for as much as it might if you were working with lower SES individuals. Either way, you can use the "older adult" angle to your advantage as they are clearly different from yourself in terms of age and in almost every medical specialty you are more likely to have older adults, than younger, in your care.

 

[EdgeTrimmer]

If you are proficient in another language (Spanish or other 12+ languages CA programs support), you can target non-English speakers to get additional experience.