USF Health Service Corps student volunteers gain invaluable interdisciplinary training while serving communities in need

At a community health fair for farm workers and their families in Ruskin, Sara Thomas, a student in the USF master's of medical sciences program, fits a child's bicycle helmet.

For hundreds of USF Health students, giving back is one of the many benefits of community health outreach. Training with their colleagues in medicine, nursing, public health and physical therapy is another.

Now in its sixth year, the USF Health Service Corps gives students plenty of opportunities to work side-by-side while reaching out to communities in need. The corps is sponsored by the USF Area Health Education Center (AHEC), a program covering a nine-county area on Florida’s west central coast that seeks to improve the supply, distribution, diversity and quality of the health care workforce, ultimately increasing access to health care in medically underserved areas.

Throughout the year, USF Health students in the corps enthusiastically volunteer at health fairs in rural and inner city areas; socialize with cancer patients and their families; organize collection drives for food, clothing, toys and backto-school supplies; teach school children about public health and safety issues; donate blood; participate in fundraising events; and serve as camp counselors for children with special health needs.

While nearly half of the nation’s medical schools boast strong community health outreach programs, the emphasis on interdisciplinary student interaction makes the USF Health Service Corps stand out, according to Steven Specter, associate dean for Student Affairs at the USF College of Medicine.

“The uniqueness is that you have students of various professional disciplines working collaboratively to deliver services to the community,” Specter says. “The program provides much-needed services and a great opportunity for students to learn the humanistic responsibility of giving back.”

USF medical students conduct blood sugar screenings.

The culture of caring created when students contribute to the health of the community is something the university leadership views as crucial to developing well-rounded professionals. Reaching deep into the heart of diverse, medically underserved populations, the USF Health Service Corps consistently receives high marks for providing hands-on experience to students and exposing them to some of the social, cultural and economic barriers to health. These invaluable experiences can make indelible impressions on students, cultivating cultural awareness and empathy and potentially impacting the way they relate with patients throughout their careers. Volunteering with peers in other disciplines also gives students a chance to share and ultimately appreciate different perspectives when tackling health service projects.

“Although students in the health professions have not traditionally trained together, they are expected to know how to work together,” says Cindy Selleck, director of the USF AHEC program. USF Health faculty volunteers provide guidance, mentoring and experience, and help to make professional interaction a fundamentally ingrained skill by the time students graduate.

Whether they are conducting faculty-supervised blood pressure and blood sugar screenings for migrant farm workers or teaching middle school students the importance of hand washing in preventing infections, USF Health Service Corps volunteers create meaningful links between the community and the university.

“Without the USF Health Service Corps, Mobile Medical would be much less effective in our efforts to serve the community,” says Sister Sara Proctor, program coordinator for Catholic Charities Mobile Medical Services, which serves farm workers and other low-income residents of East and South Hillsborough County.

Ultimately, the desired outcome of the program is prevention and increased access to health care, which mirrors nationwide goals. Matching student skills, interests and schedules with community agency requests, Ellen Kent, faculty coordinator for the USF Health Service Corps, taps into a wealth of dedicated faculty, students and community health care advocates to fuel the program. While there’s no shortage of enthusiasm, the recent economic downturn has created gnawing concern about continued state funding for AHEC, making community donations essential to the program’s longevity.

“We provide students with meaningful and fun opportunitiesto serve the community,” Kent says. “It’s really about creating a culture of caring for students and healthier populations.”

– Story by Judy Silverstein Gray
- Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications

By The Numbers*

7,577 Annual USF Health student volunteer service hours1,284 Student hours dedicated to health fairs, screenings, health education, fitness/safety activities1,250 Middle school/high school students impacted by educational programs

$11,245 Funds raised for nonprofit health organizations

Read more about USF’s Health Service Corps at http://health.usf.edu/ahec/servicecorps.htm

*2007-2008 USF Health Service Corps Facts

This article appeared in the Spring-Summer 2009 issue of USF Magazine.