Medical Students Wrap up Their 1st Year With the Urban Health Project

CINCINNATI—Sean Lawson, a first-year UC medical student, spent his summer designing and implementing an educational curriculum that addressed smoking cessation and hypertension among homeless individuals with mental illness.

Lawson volunteered as part of the Urban Health Project, a nonprofit, medical student-run organization that places students who have finished their first year of medical school in summer internships with medical and social service agencies in Greater Cincinnati.

"My time with Tender Mercies has done a wonderful job of making sure that I stay aware of a person's circumstances when considering a (health) plan for them,” says Lawson. "I'm thankful for that and hope to use this experience when discussing conditions with my future patients.”

Nineteen students served as interns with the Urban Health Project, which is in its 29th year of existence, says Jessica Hwang, a first-year medical student, who is co-director of the project.

"Our organizational vision statement expresses our hope that the Urban Health Project will, 'improve healthcare by molding future physicians who will have a personal understanding of the factors that impact health and use this knowledge to provide better care to all populations, especially the underserved,'” explains Hwang. "Weekly reflections provided by our interns have consistently demonstrated the success of our internships in achieving this goal.”

At 5 p.m. Thursday, July 30, Urban Health Project will hold its annual "Committed to Community Event” in the CARE/Crawley Atrium, to allow interns in the program to offer presentations about their work during the summer. Refreshments will be provided and anyone is welcome to attend. Barbara Tobias, MD, Robert and Myfanwy Smith Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at UC, will offer a keynote address.

"The Urban Health Project allows interns to develop an understanding of the challenges facing patients through sustained first-hand experiences, which will have a direct positive impact on their ability to deliver quality, compassionate care as future physicians,” says Andrew Frankart, a first-year medical student, who is also co-director of the project.

"Equally as important, we have received great feedback from site supervisors that our interns have been making a difference through their work,” he says. "This combination of outcomes makes our program unique and exciting.”

Hwang says the project gives medical students an opportunity to experience early on what many physicians will face when providing care to vulnerable populations. She says the experience will hopefully allow students to develop into "more service-minded and caring physicians.”

Others interns say the summer experience has been enriching and beneficial.

"I was reminded of the privilege it is to practice medicine and consequently the responsibilities that come with it,” said Mildrede Bonglack, a first-year medical student who was an intern at Bethesda North OB/GYN Center and assisted in identifying factors that affect postpartum return rates for women.

"This experience made me more aware of how I interact with patients and challenged me to prepare myself in order to offer the best of care to patients whom I will have the honor of serving,” explains Bonglack.

Adrian Acosta, a first-year medical student, worked with the Department of Family and Community Medicine at UC to engage in extensive clinical experiences with the Healthcare for the Homeless program. Acosta also organized a health fair for transient workers at the Belterra Park race track.

"Urban Health Project has enlightened me on the ways we can get these patients the continuous care they require so they don't have to wait for their disease to become an emergency,” says Acosta. "I now understand how to help these patients and direct them to the correct resources."