Health Equity, Advocacy, and Global Health
Our program offers robust opportunities to learn about and participate in advocacy and outreach in Worcester and its surrounding communities. Interns have unique access to advocacy opportunities during their primary care blocks and share insights with their classmates during the “Our Town” celebration. Our department is also home to the Child Health Equity Center, and its associated PATH Fellowship, that strives to address adverse social determinants of health and improve the health of our patients. Residents learn from clinicians and researchers who are champions in this field.
Advocacy
Advocacy for individual patients and children in the community is an integral part of the UMass Chan Medical School mission. Our residents participate in a longitudinal advocacy curriculum through which they meet with community agency representatives and consumers to develop skills in patient and community advocacy. Recent topics have included mental health reform, SCHIP, working with school systems, collaboration with legal aid, and how to effectively draft written correspondence to community agencies. We also participate in Residents and Fellows Day at the State House where residents learn how to advocate on a legislative level.
Health Equity and Advocacy Elective
The Child Health Equity and Advocacy Elective is a 2-4 week elective rotation offered to our residents. Residents have dedicated time to learn about health equity, social determinants of health, and advocacy through reading literature, attending didactics, engaging with faculty experts, and immersing in the Worcester community. Residents are encouraged to take a deep dive into specific areas of interest that connect their clinical, research and advocacy interests. As part of the elective, residents:
- Learn about how systemic and structural racism drive inequities in health outcomes in the U.S. healthcare system
- Meet with experts from the Child Health Equity Center
- Explore community resources for children and families in Worcester that seek to overcome adverse social determinants of health
- Engage with community leaders and organizations that promote child health equity in Worcester
- Understand ways in which pediatricians can become advocates for child health equity on individual, community, and policy levels
- Work on one of our ongoing projects and/or create an independent project
Health Equity Rounds
Health Equity Rounds is an educational series focused on addressing issues of racism, discrimination, and bias in medicine. Our Pediatrics Department hosts Health Equity Rounds four times per year to bring together medical professionals, public health leaders, patients, and community members to address inequities in healthcare delivery and access. We use our own experiences as learning opportunities to help build a collective understanding of how we can provide more equitable care to our patients. As part of Health Equity Rounds, residents identify areas of focus, engage with guest speakers, contribute to the development of presentations, and help moderate during Health Equity Rounds.
Outreach
Many residents, staff and faculty participate in outreach projects in both the greater Worcester community and the state as a whole. Some of the projects in which we are involved are highlighted below:
- Participate in the annual Child Health Equity Summit, where diverse community groups meet in order to help develop partnerships and mitigate the root causes of health inequity here in Worcester
- UMass Memorial Medical Center co-sponsors and staffs the Guns 2 Gardens gun buy-back program, which seeks to get unwanted and unsafe firearms off the street by providing people who surrender them with gift certificates to local establishments.
- The annual Teddy Bear Clinic is staffed by residents, faculty and volunteers. The clinic provides children with an opportunity to have a stuffed animal examined and awarded a certificate of “Beary Good Health” while also exploring kiosks with interactive health information from pediatric subspecialty departments.
- Worcester Public Schools regularly invites residents to speak with students on a variety of health maintenance and prevention topics and to run medicine exploration programs.
- In conjunction with the Departments of Surgery and Emergency Medicine, pediatric residents and faculty participate in projects via the Injury Prevention Center, including bike helmet safety clinics and Saftey Quest.
- Residents lobby at both the local and state level for legislation that protects children and adolescents and fosters healthy development.
Global Health
The UMass Chan Medical School has long supported international experiences for students, residents and faculty. The department of pediatrics offers assistance to students and residents who are interested in international work. Over the years many pediatric residents have gone abroad for such experiences. They are strongly encouraged by our program leadership, a team who has been involved with a health projects around the world for over twenty years. During the past few academic years, our residents have participated in international rotations in Ecuador, Haiti, India and Liberia. Residents can also participate in a monthly global health dinner seminar with residents from other disciplines.