Population Health Clerkship Team: Family Health Center Worcester

The Faces and Places of Worcesterqueen

1. Team faculty:
 Lisa Carter MD, Assistant Professor of Family Medicine and Community
Health; 508 860 7831; lisa.carterfhcw@umassmed.edu
Family Health Center of Worcester. 26 Queen St. Worcester MA 01610
Heather-Lyn Haley, PhD, Assistant Professorof Family Medicine and Community Health
774-441-6366; Heather-Lyn.Haley@umassmed.edu

2. Defining characteristics
a. The population of primary interest for this team is: Worcester’s medically underserved
b. The health issue affecting this population on which this team will focus is: Several issues that relate to access and health disparities from prevention to illness.
c. The primary sites and locations at which the team will spend their time are: Downtown Worcester/ Family Health Center Worcester
d. Primary student activities:
Students participating in this clerkship at the Family Health Center Worcester (FHCW) will explore the health center and the surrounding community to familiarize themselves with the local demographics, cultures and medical and social issues including schools, churches, stores and restaurants, as well as the local teen center, the homeless shelter, the drug detoxification facility, and other social service organizations. We will also explore the health center in depth to develop an understanding of the community health center model and the concept of community-oriented primary care. Students will further explore the community’s resources on their own through the “patient for a day experience” in which students will be given a problem or task, and asked to accomplish this task with the resources typically available to our patients. They will then report back to the group about their experiences. Finally, we will select one particular group that the center serves, or one particular problem faced by our patient population, and study it in more depth. This will likely involve pairing students with patients and their families for home visits, visits to the doctor and other activities with that family.
e. Specific logistical details e.g. housing, transportation, etc. FHCW is accessible from the medical school by bus service.
f. Maximum number of students on team. 6

3. Resources:
a. Web resources relevant for this population and/or health issue: http://www.umassmed.edu/fmch/toolkit.aspx
b. Links to relevant agency reports: http://www.fhcw.org/en/Home