Service Learning at SIU

SIU’s MissionThe mission of the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine is to assist the people of central and southern Illinois in meeting their health care needs through

• Education• Patient care• Research

and • Service to the community

Service Learning

• A form of experiential learning where people apply knowledge and critical thinking skills to address genuine community needs.

• Combines service to the community with student learning in a way that improves both the student and the community.

• Fosters civic responsibility and applies classroom and lifelong learning through meaningful service to the community.

• It includes preparation for experiences, active engagement in community service, and reflection upon the service learning experience.

Service Learning Experience Objectives

• An awareness of local resources

• Opportunities to provide community service and reflect upon the benefits of it

• An understanding of how to begin to meet the community needs

Service Learning Experience• 1) Pick a service learning experience (if not an approved one then you need to complete

the IDE form)• 2) Go to D2L under instruction then links and select service learning, sign up for the site

you will be attending (you will find contact information and reading materials for each one there) You will need to call each site individually to set up a time and date to go. Tell them you are a second year medical student needing to do a 2 hour service learning experience working with Tracey Smith.

• 3) Prepare for the experience by reading background articles and materials• 4) Participate in service learning experience• 5) Write up reflection about experience and submit that to Tracey Smith within 2 weeks

of attending site (tsmith@siumed.edu)• 6) Log service learning hours under D2L under links and select log service learning. Fill in

location, date, time, and hours attended.

• If at anytime you have questions contact Tracey Smith at tsmith@siumed.edu or call at 545-2200

• https://online.siu.edu/

Approved Service Learning Sites• Advocacy

– Habitat for Humanity– Mary Bryant Home for the Blind– Think First

• Indigent– CATCH Program– Contact Ministries– Kumler Outreach Ministries Food Pantry– Washington Street Mission- Oatmeal Friday– SIU Free Clinic– Food Bank (pending)

• Pregnancy, Women, Children Outcomes, and other special groups– Mercy House– Mini O’Beirne Crisis Nursery– Sojourn Shelter and Services– SPARC (pending)

• Education– Enos School Mentoring– Enos School Health Fair

Individually Designed Service Learning Experience

• Southern Illinois University School of Medicine• Request for Individually Designed Student Community Service Learning Project Approval• • The Community Service Program Guidelines state that community service activities must directly support one or more of the School’s objectives for

community service. No community service activity will be approved if it impedes or conflicts with the School’s educational, patient care, and research responsibilities.

• • This form must be submitted in sufficient time to ensure that all required approvals may be received at least three weeks before the proposed date

of the scheduled event. Please read the Community Service Program Guidelines prior to submitting this form (http://www.siumed.edu/extaff/comserv/ComServ_Guidelines.pdf). ALL REQUIRED SIGNATURES MUST BE OBTAINED BEFORE THE EVENT IS SCHEDULED AND PRIOR TO SUBMISSION OF THIS FORM TO TRACEY SMITH OR SUSAN HINGLE.

• • Date of Request: ___________________________• Medical Student Name:__________________________________________________________________________• Email:________________________________________________________________________________________• • Project Title: __________________________________________________________________________________• • Proposed Date(s) / Time(s) of the Project:____________________________________________________________• • Location(s): ___________________________________________________________________________________• • Describe the Project and how it supports the mission and community service objectives of SIU School of Medicine.• • • • •

Describe how the need for this activity was identified.• • • • •

What are you hoping to get out of this experience?• • • • •

What will your role be?• • • • •

How many hours will you perform?_______________________________________________________________• • •

REQUIRED SIGNATURES• • Community Service Agency Leader:___________________________________________________________________• • Community Service Education Committee:_____________________________________________________________• (Tracey Smith or Susan Hingle)

•

• EXAMPLE

Reflective Writing ComponentCommunity members, students, and educators are discovering that service learning offers all of its participants a chance to take part in learning while simultaneously addressing the concerns, needs, and hopes of their communities.• Reflect upon your recent experiences with our local community based

organizations that help to provide services to vulnerable populations in our community.

• Reflect on a personal experience or one of someone you know and tell how this organization could have impacted the situation.

• How do you believe health care workers can more effectively partner with this agency or similar local agencies to better meet the needs of our communities?

• Based on your recent experiences, do you feel that you will be more likely to volunteer your time and talents in the future? If so, how?

Reflective Writing Component Continued

Social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age, including the health system. These circumstances are shaped by the distribution of money, power, and resources at global, national and local levels. The social determinants of health are responsible for many health inequities, the unfair and avoidable differences in health status seen within and between communities and countries.• Reflect upon your recent experiences at local service agencies

attempting to improve the lives of people in our communities.• What have you learned about some of the social determinants

impacting our local populations? How will this impact your approach to and care of your patients?

Reflective Writing Component Continued

Other things to consider when writing up your reflection paper include:

• What did you learn from the experience?• How and where might you be able to use what you learned during this

experience?• What connections can you make between this experience and what you

learn in medical school? • How was the experience dissimilar from what you learn in medical school?• How was the experience similar or different from what you expected?• What would you do differently if you were in charge of the organization you

visited?• What would the organization you visited need in order to better fulfill its

mission?• Was there a time that you felt uncomfortable or unprepared? Why?

Example of a ReflectionUpon learning that we were required to do a community service project, I must admit I was less than enthused. It isn’t like I don’t enjoy doing community

service, quite the contrary. I have been involved in many different forms of community service since I was in middle school, but the idea of having a select

group of organizations to work with seemed a little too strict for something that was supposed to be volunteer. Despite my hesitation about this experience I

am very happy I did it. I did not necessarily have fun but learned a lot.

… I chose … the CATCH program. On pulling up to Sangamon County Medical Society I was shocked at how unspectacular it looked. In my head

something as important as medicine for the county would have a large, stately building but instead I walked to a back door to a walk out basement below a

physician’s office. It was there that I met the two women that coordinate all of CATCH which now includes 1000 patients. Yes, 1000 patients for 2 women

and even more astounding is that those 2 women are in charge of scheduling every specialist appointment for all of those patients.

I was quickly given tasks, the first of which being filing patient records. I can’t say I learned much doing this task or enjoyed it but the gratitude that these

women had for me doing it was shocking. I honestly thought they had me do it just because they had to find something for me to work on when in reality I

was fulfilling a chore that they would have had to stay later to do that work day because they must spend physician’s hours scheduling appointments and save

all organization for after their office’s close. A task I found mundane was something that would have normally kept them from going home to their families

because they were taking care of others.

My second responsibility was scheduling appointments for patients and then notifying patients about their appointment information. This seemed like an

extra step to me. Why would I need to schedule their appointments and then tell the patient? I found out later why: CATCH patients are hard to keep track

of. Trying to get a hold of patients to tell them about appointments was incredibly frustrating. Whether it be a phone disconnected due to lack of payment of

phone bill or a patient being homeless and trying to find someone at Salvation Army that knew where I could find him or her I was constantly met with

frustration. I even had to call a local fast food restaurant in order to get a hold of a patient. These patients needed health care. They were seeing

specialists for life saving procedures and screening and I was going to have to cancel their appointments because I couldn’t find a way to tell them when it

was.

Example ContinuedI walked out of my learning experience frustrated and tired. My left side of my face hurt from holding the phone to my ear and I was irritated that it was

almost dark when I got out. It was not until I went running later that everything I had just witnessed hit me. There are people in this community dying

because they can’t afford health care. The two women that work at the CATCH program work incredibly hard with their thanks often being people yelling at

them on the phone for not being able to schedule earlier appointments or physician’s offices for having patients not

show up. They believe in what they are doing but still achieve limited success because those they are serving cannot always afford to get to their

appointments or even afford their phone bill to get information on their appointments. These are things I all take for granted.

I cannot remember before my experience ever being thankful for something like my phone and ability to communicate with my health care providers

directly. I have great insurance and do not have to worry about how much my prescriptions will cost or if I can afford my co pay. In my work SIU faculty as

well as my family encourage me. I am never yelled at and think the last time I was yelled at was probably for doing something silly like cutting my own

bangs or hurting my brother. I cannot imagine working so hard for a population and receiving not only limited thanks but also anger. On the other hand, I

cannot imagine having a broken ankle and not being able to see a physician for 3 weeks or needing to get a barium enema done but not being able to afford

the over the counter prep.

Was this experience life changing? It definitely changed my weekend. I was thankful for my comfortable home, encouraging husband, and ability to call in

to the pharmacy to get a prescription refilled. …

… My volunteering made a very small difference but what really hit home for me reflecting back on it was how minimal an effort each student would have

to make to bring about change in our community.

Was the experience worth it? Yes, I do think I helped and learned from it but think the greater change may actually come from this paper which I was even

more annoyed about writing than doing the actual experience. …

Student Panel