First-year T.H. Chan School of Medicine students are teaching English to refugees in Worcester, providing cooking classes to rural families in Barre and sharing the benefits of exercise through play with children at a local YMCA through a new volunteering component of their curriculum.
The Early Clinical Learning Social Determinants of Health Longitudinal Project, led by Susan Hogan, MD, MPH, and Heather-Lyn Haley, PhD, both assistant professors of family medicine & community health, is part of the new VISTA curriculum that was launched in 2022. Students are required to volunteer for at least six hours at area nonprofits. The culmination of their efforts will be a community health fair at the Worcester Public Library in March.
“This first longitudinal determinants of health experience allows students to engage with community partners and exposes them to the work that they might want to continue to do later in their careers,” said Dr. Hogan.
“Our hope is that the service-learning hours allow the students to understand the communities that they’re working with and the community’s needs, and then think about some ways that they can affect change,” Hogan added.
The community partners include Welcome Neighborhood Support Team, or WelcomeNST, an organization assisting refugee families in need of services, including after-school tutoring; Worcester Refugee Assistance Project; the New England Rural Health Association; Worcester Community Midwifery; and Pernet Family Health Services; among others.
“The medical students who volunteer come with enthusiasm and moxie. They seem fearless and have jumped right in to help our teenage new Americans,” said Maya Desai, volunteer coordinator for WelcomeNST.
First-year student Afareen Jaleel is one of 10 UMass Chan students tutoring ESL students at North High School in Worcester as part of the programming offered by WelcomeNST.
“Getting connected to the Worcester community and learning more about where you’re living is important because later on in our careers, it will be helpful to understand some of the health and socioeconomic issues that are representative of the populations we are trying to help,” Jaleel said.
Medical student Martina Ugarte volunteers at the Barre Family Health Center in Barre, teaching cooking classes and promoting SNAP WIC benefits.
“I’m particularly interested in urban health and working with lower income minority groups. In this role, I want to promote the resources that people have access to,” Ugarte said.
As part of her volunteer project with the Worcester Refugee Assistance Project at the YMCA of Central Massachusetts Boroughs Family Branch, medical student Elizabeth Stefancic spends time with school-aged refugee children, helping them with homework and finding ways for the kids to stay active. Stefancic is one of 20 medical students volunteering at the Boroughs Branch.
“It’s important to create a healthy relationship with physical exercise, particularly for children in temporary housing,” Stefancic said. “For these children, they’re likely not able to get the kind of activity a permanent housing situation could provide, including building friendships with neighborhood kids and playing outside.”
Dr. Haley is also director of the population and community health clerkship, a two-week, full-time commitment for third-year students. She said the new requirement of six volunteer hours provides an opportunity for first-year students to get out into the community early on.
“It’s like a first date with the community to have six hours’ worth of time,” Haley said. “Adding this service-learning component to the first-year curriculum helps students make connections and grow some roots locally.”
Victoria Cohen, education program specialist in the Office of Undergraduate Medical Education, facilitated the partnerships with 18 community organizations to work with the first-year students. Recruitment of the partners was made possible in part by a Remillard Family Community Service Fund grant, which was awarded to Hogan; Patricia Seymour, MD, associate professor of family medicine & community health; and Christine MacGinnis, DO, associate professor of medicine, last summer. The grant helped UMass Chan provide monetary support to some of the community partners to help facilitate student volunteering.
The funding will also be used to create an advocacy workshop for students and community partners in August.
The students’ service hours will culminate at a community health fair at the Worcester Public Library on March 13 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event is hosted by UMass Chan. Groups of first-year students will work with their community partners to staff a table at the fair and provide a variety of basic health services to the community.
