Service-Learning Opportunities

Education / Medical Student Education / Office of Medical Education / Pathways of Distinction / Service-Learning Opportunities

Image of UCCOM Med Students Working in Community Garden

At the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine (UCCOM), we believe that the best way for students to engage with and learn more about social determinants of health is through both formal and informal Service-Learning opportunities. Over the course of a medical student’s training and career, they will have the opportunity to get to know many new communities and participate in a variety of service-learning opportunities. Service-learning is a form of experiential learning and is developed with the community in order to respond to community identified concerns. The goal is to find the balance between service and learning, allowing for the classroom to extend into the community and provide opportunities for critical reflection.

Service-Learning Opportunities

Curriculum

Service-Related Research

Service-Learning Advisory Council (SLAC)

Vision: Impactful student-community relationships and partnerships through service and Service-Learning

Mission/Charge:

To enhance the quality of and opportunities for UCCOM medical student service and service-learning
To strengthen partnerships and collaboration between the community and UCCOM students / faculty
To improve the educational and service impact for both the students and community
To improve collaboration between extra-curricular service and curricular service-learning
To support promote service and Service-Learning at UCCOM and with the community
To provide a standardized process for creating and evaluating UCCOM community student service partnerships
To guide students and student groups in their service and Service-Learning
To be to of assist to the College of Medicine Medical Student Service organizations, curriculum committees and Student Affairs in developing, integrating and evaluating service and Service-Learning

What does SLAC do?

SLAC works toward achieving our mission in a variety of ways. Through collaboration with student groups, faculty, and community partners, SLAC helps define the role of service-learning and community engagement in the education of a physician at UCCOM. We help to identify student learning goals and barriers in service curriculum. We assess future community and University partners and in addition assist in evaluating current community partnerships as needed. SLAC helps to evaluate integration within the medical education curriculum, and helps to identify best practices for our Student Free Clinics. In addition, SLAC enforces guidelines for students when providing service to the community whether it is extra-curricular, co-curricular or part of the formal curriculum (e.g. student’s screening at a health fair). An ongoing effort of SLAC is to take inventory of the service-learning experiences at UCCOM and to assess how they are integrated with the other colleges of the AHC

Volunteer Signup Student Instructions (PDF)

Service Organization Descriptions

Volunteer Signup Student Instructions (PDF)

Volunteer at Belterra Clinic: Medical Student Volunteer

Volunteer at Belterra Racetrack Clinic

We are a free clinic for individuals working behind the racetrack and for individuals in the surrounding community. Many of these people do not have health insurance or do not have access to medical care except for our weekly clinic.

Family Medicine Interest Group

Frederick Douglas Elementary School

Road to Medicine is an afterschool science program at Frederick Douglass Elementary School. It was founded by a high school senior at Walnut Hills High School several years ago, and is now run by the Family Med and Family Med/Psych residents at the Christ Hospital. The participants are elementary school-aged children and their high school “buddies” from Walnut Hills High School. The program consists of a short, 15-20 min didactic session in a classroom followed by a ~30-40 min hands on activity in their science lab. When the lab is finished, the students recap the lesson and go downstairs for a snack while session leaders clean up. R2M occurs once per month on Thursdays from approximately 3:15-4:30 pm.

Initiative on Poverty, Justice, and Health

First Step Home

Aims to empower students to provide culturally competent care, specifically to the underserved. IPJH is focused on the knowledge and skills related to the connection of poverty, justice, and health. It helps support and foster student interest in improving the health of poor and vulnerable populations. Our group advocates for health and homelessness, refugee and immigrant health, women and children, and environmental health. We not only educate about these topics but strive to collaborate and take part in service events with local and regional community partners to further address and improve these health inequities. (Website)

The Latino Medical Student Association

We are the Latino Medical Student Association at UCCOM dedicated to empowering Latinos and addressing barriers to quality health care. We serve the Latino community in various formats from aiding in health fairs, education, food drives, etc. We are an inclusive organization and provide a safe space for UCCOM's Latinx and ally community. (Instagram)

Med Mentors

Cincinnati Youth Collaborative

UC Med Mentors is a group of medical students from University of Cincinnati College of Medicine working with Cincinnati Youth Collaborative (CYC) to provide mentorship to K-12 students throughout Cincinnati. Our mission is to be involved in the academic and intellectual growth of our mentees, to improve computer literacy among our mentees, and to build strong bonds with our mentees. Mentoring creates opportunities for mentees to gain new experiences and helps us as mentors become more compassionate and well-rounded future physicians. (Instagram)

MedVoUC

MedVoUC is a student organization run through UCCOM that provides primary care to individuals experiencing homelessness, many of whom may not have access to health care or health insurance. The free clinic serves the Cincinnati Men’s and Women’s Shelter houses on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6-9pm.

Pediatrics Club

The Peds Club is a student organization dedicated to fostering an interest in careers in pediatrics as a specialty. We work to connect UCCOM students with various service opportunities through our partnerships with organizations serving children and adolescents, such as the Ronald McDonald House and Sweet Cheeks Diaper Bank. Our hope is to immerse students in the community as a way to better understand the needs of the Greater Cincinnati area we serve, familiarize ourselves with current issues in the field of pediatrics, and learn how to best advocate for children and their families as they navigate the healthcare system. (Facebook)

Student National Medical Association

A Day of Wellness
Boys and Girls Club Tutoring
End Zone Tutoring

The UCCOM SNMA chapter is part of a national organization committed to supporting current and future underrepresented minority medical students, addressing the needs of underserved communities, and increasing the number of clinically excellent, culturally competent and socially conscious physicians. (Instagram)

UC Open School

St. Vincent DePaul
Cancer Justice Network

UC Open School is an inter-professional student-run free clinic located in the Liz Carter Outreach Center of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul (SVdP) in the West End of Cincinnati. Open School is composed of faculty, student leaders, and volunteers from the UC College of Allied Health, UC Blue Ash Dental Hygiene Program, College of Medicine, College of Nursing, College of Pharmacy, and School of Social Work. We provide health screenings, education, and medical and hygiene supplies to low-income and medically underserved Cincinnatians who come to SVdP to obtain a wide range of social, health, and wellness services. We do all this in the spirit of charity and fellowship as part of our mission to serve and support our neighbors in their hour of need. (Facebook)

UCCOM Urban Health Project

Since 1986, Urban Health Project (UHP) has been pairing first year medical students from the University of Cincinnati with non-profit health organizations in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. We strive to both directly impact our community as well as expose the incoming medical professionals to the realities of the underserved community. Our eight week summer internship gives students first-hand experience with the many different aspects of healthcare, while also providing agencies with the extra help they need to provide the best services possible.

UC Student-Run Free Clinic

The Healing Center

SRFC (Student Run Free Clinic), UC’s newest free clinic, was founded by a UCCOM learning community and UCCOM alumna, Caroline Hensley. Clinics run every Saturday from 9:00AM-12:00PM at the Healing Center (~25 min north of campus) to conduct health screenings and acute care clinic visits for the uninsured. We strive to provide a range of services to our patient population including acute medical care, social support, prescription managements, referrals for chronic care, and (soon) labs. We serve a diverse range of patients, including a large Spanish speaking population. Both medical and pharmacy students work together to collect histories, perform physical exams, and create a plan of action for patients. Before the pandemic, we saw about 3-5 walk-in patients and conduct around 20 health screenings per clinic day. Now, we are seeing about 3-5 patients per day and will hopefully be reintroducing health screenings back into our clinic day according to COVID-19 pandemic safety protocol. Our clinic strives to expand the list of dignifying services that the Healing Center provides to meet their clients’ financial, emotional, and social needs. As a team of students supported by academic and community leaders, we work to establish a clinic serving the unmet needs of the Latino and uninsured communities in the Greater Cincinnati area. Our mission is to partner with faculty, students, patients, and community members to provide quality, dignifying, and empowering primary care to the underserved populations in Cincinnati.

Wilderness Medicine Interest Group

Potluck for the People

Women Leading Healthy Change

Women Leading Healthy Change (WLHC) is an organization at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine that provides UCCOM students with an opportunity to teach, support, and learn from women who are recovering from homelessness, drug addiction, and/or prostitution. We currently work with Off the Streets, First Step Home, Bethany House, and the Recovery Pod at Hamilton County Jail. We facilitate courses in women's health care and mental health. During these sessions we seek to help women we teach develop an understanding of their own personal health care and encourage self-empowerment. As medical students we hope to better understand the difficulties of those living with mental illness and addiction and to better prepare ourselves as future doctors to serve all patients with compassion, empathy, and openness.

Off the Streets
First Step Home
Bethany House
Hamilton County Justice Center

Other Service Resources

Click here to access Volunteer Signup Student Instructions

Cincy Homeless Resource Map App

The Cincy Homeless Resource Map connects individuals and professionals to resources for those experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness in Cincinnati. Resources include Shelters, Housing, Meals, Groceries, Medical/Dental/Mental Health, Addiction Treatment, Financial, Educational, Jobs/Employment Skills, and Legal/Advocacy agencies. Agencies are listed by category with descriptions of services. In-app navigation will guide you to the agency selected. Phone numbers and bus routes are also provided. Find the app at the links below.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cincy-homeless-resource-map/id1264537860

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.app.p1665FC&hl=en_SG

Find help

Find food assistance, help paying bills, and other free or reduced cost programs, including new programs for the COVID-19 pandemic.

https://www.findhelp.org/

Medical Reserve Corps

The Tristate Medical Reserve Corps (TMRC) is part of a national network of local groups of volunteers committed to improving the public health, emergency response, and resiliency of their communities. TMRC includes 14 MRC units from Southwest Ohio, Northern Kentucky, and Southeast Indiana. TMRC focuses on strengthening the public health infrastructure by preparing for and responding to natural or man-made disasters and/or public health emergencies in the community. The mission of the TMRC is to provide an organized, trained, and effective pool of volunteers for our regional community that is capable of enhancing and supporting existing public health and healthcare resources. At the local level, each MRC unit is led by an MRC Unit Coordinator, who matches community needs – for emergency medical response and public health initiatives – with volunteer capabilities. Local Coordinators are also responsible for building partnerships, ensuring the sustainability of the local unit, and managing the volunteer resources. In Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana, the TMRC is comprised of medical and non-medical volunteers who are willing to donate their time and expertise to supplement existing public health and local resources during times of emergencies. MRC volunteers may include physicians, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, psychologists, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, veterinarians, chiropractors, medical office staff, mental health and social service personnel and many others who can fill key medical and non-medical positions during an emergency response.

Tristate MRC site: https://tmrcvolunteer.org/about/

Kentucky: https://ky.readyop.com/contact/register/71

TOPSoccer

Cincinnati TOPSoccer is an organization that provides opportunities for children with developmental delays or physical disabilities to get "off the sideline and into the game." This organization is always looking for volunteers to help and no soccer experience is necessary. TOPSoccer has a Fall season with three Cincinnati locations (Batavia, Mason, and Harrison) as well as an indoor Spring season in Mason.

Volunteer Contact is Randy Corey at: randy@cincytopsoccer.com

Hamilton County Special Olympics

Special Olympics of Hamilton County offers 25 different year-round athletic and recreational programs, including but not limited to basketball, bowling, football, weight-lifting, and track and field. Volunteer opportunities are available year-round and can include volunteering for a season or just for a single day event as you are able.

Program website: https://www.specialolympics-hc.org/

Sign-up to volunteer online at: https://www.specialolympics-hc.org/home/volunteers/how-to-volunteer/

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