serving the underserved...NEED HELP from first year meds

[FowlersGap]

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i wanted to write a few update letters to schools i haven't heard from yet

the big focus of my apps is serving the underserved. its the main reason i'm interested in medicine and know that i want my future to revolve around serving disadvantaged individuals.

i wanted to hear from first year meds about specific opportunities at their schools where students can help the underserved...

i think it would be helpful for everyone to post info about their schools cause it will be helpful to others interested.

for me specifically, i was hoping to hear form students at BU, drexel, USC, finch, george washington, mount sinai, NYMC, OHSU, Saint Louis, Vermont and Tufts....

I started a similar thread and got a lot of awesome advice about tulane; i thought if everyone posts on one thread it will be easier for everyone who's interested to get some feedback

thanks!

 

[Kashue]

For Sinai, check out:

http://www.mssm.edu/cmca/

and

http://www.mssm.edu/theschool/community/index.shtml

 

[Paws]

I think in general, most schools have prgrams where you can work with the homeless, low-income clinics or a ton of other things. It's usually part of the community outreach / volunteer department - or whatever it might be called. I would just assume the schools you mention have a program, but you could do a specific search of their webpages, or google it.

 

[steve007]

i doubt that there's one school w/o excellent programs of this type.

 

[FowlersGap]

thanks for all the help so far

 

[greggth]

New Jersey Medical School has opportunities. Even first-year students can participate in the student-run clinic. They have a program where you can help take care of "boarder babies" (i.e. babies temporarily without parents). They have community health fairs. They had a mentoring program, but I am not sure if it's still running. Newark, NJ, where the school is located, has plenty of homeless, drug addicts, and people with AIDS, as well as people who are just plain poor or immigrants. The Newark area has a very high percentage of African-American and Latino/a people and I believe it has high rates of unemployment and street crime.

 

[gimmedog]

Originally posted by FowlersGap
for me specifically, i was hoping to hear form students at BU, drexel, USC, finch, george washington, mount sinai, NYMC, OHSU, Saint Louis, Vermont and Tufts....
thanks!

I know Vermont has a pretty active student body. You can ask about the Schweitzer fellowship that they also have at Dartmouth. Also they do an auction for local groups which sounds pretty cool. Students and faculty donate goods and services and people bid for knitting lessons and whatnot. In general seems like there's support to initiate things. Not a huge underserved population, but it's there--mostly rural and underemployed.

 

[BlackstarNYC]

The med students are always happy to be there, and I'm not entirely sure, but I remember hearing something about working there being mandatory for the pre-clinicals?

I'm not sure about the mandatory rotations there, but I definitely saw some 1st and 2nd years there along with a 4th year for general supervision and also a supervising physician. Its a GREAT opportunity to help an underserved community... they really need the help. Plus its a great chance to brush up on your Spanish 😎