Each year, National Primary Care Week brings together students, faculty and health care professionals to raise awareness of the need for more primary care practitioners. This year, UMass Medical School and UMass Memorial Health Care will observe National Primary Care Week with a slate of activities taking place from Monday, Oct. 1, through Friday, Oct. 5.
With its theme “The Future of Health Care,” the week focuses on integrating primary care into medical education for all specialties in order to equip students to address health care inequalities and bring quality health care to all individuals.
The week kicks off Monday with poster presentations by faculty members who are UMass Quality Scholars and students who participated in the Summer Service Learning Assistantship program, on display in the Old Medical School lobby from noon to 2 p.m.
On Tuesday, Lisa Cooper, MD, MPH, FACP, professor and director of the Johns Hopkins Center to Eliminate Cardiovascular Disparities, will deliver the annual Steven L. Putterman Lecture. Dr. Cooper’s talk “Journey to Eliminating Healthcare Disparities: The Importance of Affirming Values and Building Relationships” will take place in the Memorial Amphitheater at noon.
On Wednesday, Oct. 3, for the second year, the UMMS Humanities in Medicine Committee of the Lamar Soutter Library will host a primary care storytelling event featuring Thursday Morning Memos, the medical school’s own narrative medicine program. “Primary Care Ride” by Michael Ennis, MD, associate professor of family medicine & community health, and "Why have you forsaken me?" by Ciaran DellaFera, MD, SOM ’12, will be read by Jennifer Reidy, MD, assistant professor of family medicine & community health, medical students Christine Motzkus-Feagans and Rebecca Compton, and UMass Memorial chaplains Rev. Karen Dorshimer-Chaplin and Rabbi Richard Rudnick. A reception with light refreshments at 5:30 p.m. will precede the formal program at 6 p.m. in the Rare Books Room of the library.
Additional National Primary Care Week activities include Primary Care Student Questions of the Day, a book drive by the Pediatric Interest Group, and opportunities to participate in community-based volunteer health promotion events on Thursday, Oct. 4.
