Blog Post
Blog Post

Community and Interprofessional Engagement, with Case Western’s Student Action Network

May 12, 2022
|
Intend Health Strategies Blog
Community and Interprofessional Engagement, with Case Western’s Student Action Network

The Primary Care Progress Student Action Network (PCP SAN) Chapter at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) formed in 2019. Founded by PA students, the chapter later expanded to welcome students from across CWRU’s health professions schools, offering valuable interprofessional experiences to its members. Each year, students create and manage community-based projects, and two current team leaders, Adrienne Simmons and Andrea Szabo, shared their experiences with PCP SAN and their chapter’s projects.

Always interested in primary care, Adrienne Simmons is a third-year medical student who was one of the first medical students to join the chapter, looking for community service work and interprofessional interaction with students from other schools.

Andrea Szabo, a fourth-year medical student, recently matched into the Med-Peds program at the University of Pennsylvania and will soon be starting her residency at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. This is her first year with the PCP SAN chapter. Like Adrienne, Andrea was looking for opportunities to engage with the community as a medical student, knowing that this would be important for her career in primary care. Andrea was also looking for interprofessional experience.

The chapter’s mission, according to Adrienne, is “to foster a bridge between the CWRU campus community and the surrounding community, and to improve awareness of primary care within the campus and among other health professions students. The mission also includes helping community members think about the importance of their health to increase the overall well-being of the community.”

The chapter takes on projects that serve this mission, and Adrienne and Andrea provided insight into impactful projects the team has engaged in during this academic year alone.

“Just Walk” Events

The team’s biggest project is “Just Walk,” a monthly event held the first Saturday of every month in partnership with a local community health center. The CWRU team heard about “Walk With a Doc” events through networking with another PCP student chapter and was inspired to launch their own event.

The community health center promotes the walks to its members, and participants have subsequently spread the word to friends and family. With access to both an indoor and outdoor track, events can be held regardless of Cleveland weather. At every event, future healthcare providers (PA students, nurse practitioner students, and medical students) walk with community members to answer any questions and casually converse. One student gives a five-minute presentation on a particular healthcare topic, such as exercise, mindfulness, or meditation.

Since Fall 2021, there have been seven walks with as many as 20 community members participating. These walks provide opportunities for community-clinician engagement while promoting overall health and exercise.

“Watching ‘Just Walk' grow from our first event to our last few events has been super rewarding. It’s also been a lesson in perseverance and adaptability – being on this team, working together… listening to each other, and building on ideas from everyone’s contributions.”
— Adrienne Simmons

Food Distribution

The chapter also participated in food distribution events in partnership with a community health worker organization and a local food bank. The team put together around 50 packages that were hand-delivered by community health workers to local families. Team members also volunteered at drive-through food distribution events that are run by the food bank, usually twice a month. Between 20 and 100 people come to the drive-through a couple of times each month to receive fresh fruits and vegetables, and the PCP team is there to provide extra hands to help meet the needs of the community.

Vaccine Hesitancy

In partnership with the same community health worker organization and the local health department, chapter volunteers staff events where they provide information and answer questions about COVID vaccines. These “vaccine pods” take place at locations throughout the community, including libraries, churches, and even McDonald’s, with a focus on areas with lower vaccination rates.

Andrea noted that they aren’t necessarily shifting mindsets; by the time people come to these events, they are almost ready to get the vaccine. Even so, volunteers are available to speak with community members, making sure they’re comfortable, answering questions or concerns, and encouraging visitors to recommend vaccination to their friends and family. The health department had handed out $100 gift cards to those who were getting the vaccine for the first time, and when Andrea asked several attendees what convinced them, they responded, “I was hemming and hawing, but then I heard about the gift card.” Whether the motivation was intrinsic or extrinsic, some events drew from 50 to 100 people, and had a positive impact on the health and well-being of community members.

“It’s been a really rewarding experience for students, not only to do things that are great for the community, but also to interact with people in other professions, such as community health workers. That extra interprofessional experience is very valuable.” — Andrea Szabo

Upcoming Health Fair

For their final project this academic year, the chapter will help a nearby church organize a health fair this summer, featuring information booths focused on mental health, reproductive health, and HIV/AIDS, as well as diabetes and blood pressure screenings. There will also be sessions on outdoor yoga, mindfulness, and self-care, as well as a voter registration drive. The team is also exploring additional vaccine hesitancy work and a possible vaccine clinic in partnership with several Cleveland organizations.

Through projects like these, the Case Western PCP SAN Chapter is having a positive impact on its surrounding community while providing valuable, interprofessional experience to future healthcare providers as they begin their careers.

Andrea Szabo describes her work with the chapter as “an incredibly valuable experience — to see how much a student group is able to make a difference, to start getting involved in the community, and to start making an impact. I have learned so much about the importance of networking and partnerships throughout this process.”

More about the PCP Student Action Network

Our national Student Action Network (SAN) comprises interprofessional, student-led teams from 18 institutions with more than 200 participants.

With support from coaches and faculty advisors, students design and implement community-based projects while developing their Relational Leadership skills through quarterly workshops, ongoing coaching sessions, and large-scale community events.

While the name of our organization changed to Intend Health Strategies in 2022, the name of our student program remains unchanged, reflecting its origins in and continuing focus on primary care. Learn more about the PCP Student Action Network.

A look at the impactful community projects of Case Western Reserve’s PCP Student Action Network chapter.

View External ResourceDownload PDF

"I have employed and used so much of my Relational Leadership experience and training from Intend Health to work."

Krisda Chaiyachati, MD, MPH, MSHP

Assistant Professor of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

"I think the collaborative work that Intend Health does to recruit bright, energized, resilient, diverse, and compassionate primary care physicians all over the country will be even more impactful. Intend Health's efforts will be a big part of the solution to mend our ailing primary care infrastructure in the coming years."

Peter Meyers, MD, MPH

Family Physician, Minnesota Community Care

"Thank you for inspiring a generation of future docs to become primary care physicians. I definitely felt like I had a community during medical school."

Shani Truong

Family Medicine Resident, UC Davis San Joaquin General Hospital

“So far, my experience in this Relational Leadership course has been THE highlight of my leadership journey. This program exceeded my expectations. I have been sharing the content with my colleagues who are also inspired by it. Thank you for making the world a better place one Relational Leadership course at a time.”

Relational Leadership for Clinician Leadership Program Participant

OCHIN

“A big impact that Intend Health has on me is it makes me more humble, kinder, more intuitive, a better listener, and I’ve been able to teach the skills I’ve learned to others. All of this makes me a better team member, and I think that that's integral to what Intend Health teaches — we need high functioning teams to provide the best care.”

Student Action Network Participant

"This year, there's been so much change with COVID, with work, with everything. But I feel like the PCP Student Action Network has been that constant that I could always just count on. And my favorite part is that no matter how stressful work was, no matter how stressful the year was, whenever it came time for a PCP call or any PCP anything, it's always something that I look forward to."

Student Action Network Coach

“I participated in RLI [the Relational Leadership Institute]... and my world has not been the same since. The community that I’ve gained at RLI has been extraordinary. Being part of RLI means being connected to a diverse, interdisciplinary community that breaks down the walls that are typical in academic medicine.”

Katie Gradick, MD, MHS

University of Utah

“Relational skills are particularly important right now because they’re rooted in people, with the fundamental assumption that we are good and have common values. If I can approach with unconditional positive regard and build in psychological safety, who knows what we can accomplish, despite the chaos around us.”

Lexy Kliewer, LCSW

Oregon Health and Science University

“Relational Leadership is what keeps me going. When I feel overwhelmed, stressed, down, I turn to members of the Relational Leadership community for support and resilience. We genuinely care about each other. We put ‘people first,’ truly, in our work together.”

Sarah Smithson, MD, MPH

Assistant Dean for Clinical Education University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine

"The leadership skills, relationships, and perspective I have gained through my involvement in Intend Health have shaped the clinician, educator, and leader I am today."

Kyle Turner, PharmD

University of Utah

"In a healthcare system fraught with silos and computer screens, we need the human voice — a personal connection — now more than ever. That's the work of Intend Health."

Matt Lewis, PhD

Strategic Consultant

“Over 100 members of the UNC community have participated in our Relational Leadership Institutes… one word stands out for me in our evaluations — regardless of whether cohorts met in person or via Zoom — and that word is transformative."

Josh Hinson, MSW, LCSW

Assistant Professor University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work

Intend Health People