{"id":12540,"date":"2019-11-06T16:27:38","date_gmt":"2019-11-06T21:27:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/?p=12540"},"modified":"2019-11-06T16:27:38","modified_gmt":"2019-11-06T21:27:38","slug":"urban-immersion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/2019\/urban-immersion\/","title":{"rendered":"Urban Immersion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Isabelle Yang \u201922 knows what it takes to both provide and improve support for a vulnerable urban population. As an undergraduate, she was a founding staff member of Y2Y Harvard Square, a non-profit program providing overnight shelter and case management services to homeless young adults ages 18-24 in Greater Boston.<\/p>\n

Her dedication to improving healthcare systems for vulnerable urban patient communities is the driving force behind her involvement in Geisel\u2019s Urban Health Scholars (UHS)\u2014a group of medical students who care deeply about marginalized communities and healthcare disparities.<\/p>\n

As this year\u2019s UHS director, Yang planned a weekend visit to Boston, MA in order for the scholars to gain a better understanding of the unique medical challenges facing urban communities. This year, for the first time, Geisel\u2019s Global Health Scholars joined their peers for the annual visit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason we take these trips, is to immerse ourselves in the city and ground our medical education in real and diverse patient communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Urban and Global Health Scholars
L to R, back: Paolo Ramirez \u201923, Mia Bertalan \u201922, Arati Gangadharan \u201922, Sean Turner \u201923, Chelsea Shannon \u201922, Ramzi Ben-Yelles \u201922, Isabelle Yang \u201922
L to R, middle: Leny Dias \u201922, Katie Quarles Stephens \u201923, Jasmine Panton \u201923, Irene Vargas \u201923, Bita Behrouzi \u201922, Romina Almada \u201923, Angie Lee \u201922, Falen Demsas \u201922, Rakin Ahmed \u201922
Front: Haider Ghiasuddin \u201923<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At their first stop, the Mattapan Community Health Center (MCHC), they met with Anu Kaul, MD, MPH \u201913, the chief medical officer. MCHC serves a diverse population of immigrants from Boston\u2019s Hispanic and Cape Verdean communities, including many economically disadvantaged individuals.<\/p>\n

Kaul gave the medical students an overview of the health center and of his work. Because MCHC is an independent community health center, he noted, they have the flexibility to test new ideas and be innovative when creating new programs and systems to better serve their patients.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn rural areas around Dartmouth, we often hear that small hospitals and practices are closing due to financial strain, so it was inspiring to hear about a successful independent community health center,\u201d Yang says.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
L to R: Jasmine Panton\u201923, Chelsea Shannon\u201922, Mia Bertalan\u201922, and Angie Lee\u201922 at the Mattapan Community Health Center Healthcare Revival<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The next stop, Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP), resonated the most with medical students. In the heart of the city, across the street from Boston Medical Center\u2014the city\u2019s largest safety net hospital\u2014BHCHP offers comprehensive healthcare for medical issues for individuals experiencing homelessness. From preventative dental screening to cancer treatment, they provide care for more than 11,000 vulnerable citizens in 60 locations throughout greater Boston, as well as comprehensive housing for people recovering from medical procedures who otherwise would be back on the street.<\/p>\n

The scholars also met with Thea James, MD, associate chief medical officer at Boston Medical Center and director of their Violence Intervention Advocacy Program, and spent time with the Dudley Square-based Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE). A grassroots organization that works at the intersection of social and environmental justice, they learned how researchers and community activists are positively shaping the health of urban communities. \u00a0ACE has been a powerful advocate for the Dudley Square and Roxbury communities, which have experienced unintended health consequences from diesel busses and construction sites containing asbestos and lead.<\/p>\n

Meeting with staff of Y2Y Harvard Square, the scholars then toured the shelter and Yang shared with them its history and the work she had done there. Y2Y, the nation\u2019s first student-run overnight shelter for homeless youth, is an encouraging example of what young people can do when they are determined to solve a problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was an enriching opportunity for our Urban Health Scholars and Global Health Scholars to together engage with underserved communities throughout Boston,\u201d says Shawn O\u2019Leary, director of Geisel\u2019s Office for Diversity, Inclusion and Community engagement.<\/p>\n

An intimate dinner and lively conversation with Urban Health Scholar alumni Chidi Achebe MED \u201996\u2014who hosted the dinner\u2014Christina Amerault MED \u201917, and Katherine Zeitler MED \u201915 concluded the visit. Amerault and Zeitler still work with Boston\u2019s vulnerable populations, while Achebe, as chairman and CEO of the African Integrated Development Enterprise, is bringing together international companies and expertise to address infrastructure needs on the African continent. His goal is to \u201cimprove the health of individuals and communities in Africa by creating a sustainable, integrated, patient-centered healthcare delivery system that is committed to the delivery of world class healthcare.\"<\/p>\n

Yang says, \u201cIt was inspiring and humbling to meet so many down-to-earth physicians who embody like-minded values, and who took time out of their busy days to have honest and genuine conversations with us, doctors to student doctors.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Geisel\u2019s Urban and Global Health Scholars, who have a deep interest in addressing health disparities in marginalized urban neighborhoods, visited Boston to learn how the city\u2019s healthcare institutions care for these communities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":12548,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-news","author-12"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/11\/UHS-1680x640.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4r3h1-3gg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12540"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12553,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12540\/revisions\/12553"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}