HIPHOP: Community Health Initiative

CHEC health workshops are integrated into the Community Engagement Service Learning Course (CECIL), a part of the first-year medical school curriculum. First-year medical students will provide workshops at various community sites. These community sites include Big Brothers Big Sisters; Dina’s Dwelling, permanent housing for domestic violence survivors, women, and their children; Youth Advocacy Program; and many more. HIPHOP-CHI student leaders will provide an orientation for student volunteers. Workshop topics include, but are not limited to, substance abuse, tobacco, nutrition, exercise, and sexual health and responsibility, which are presented and evaluated.

Transitions of Care is a Patient Centered Medicine-Health Equity (PCM-HE) first-year medical school clinical selective. Students will participate in clinical visits at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, conduct social needs screening, provide community resources to patients in collaboration with the medical team, and make follow-up calls, if applicable. Students also attend Medical Teaching Service Interdisciplinary Rounds.

Community Health Navigation (CHN) is a Patient Centered Medicine-Health Equity (PCM-HE) first-year medical school clinical selective that aims to immerse students in the real-world challenges faced by patients. In this program, students participate in clinical visits, conduct social needs screenings, and connect patients with community resources in collaboration with the medical team and community health workers at the Eric B. Chandler Health Center. Students will also follow up with patients while receiving firsthand experience in advocating for patients.

Students work with the program director to support current initiatives and create new ones, both virtual and on-site. Current projects include:

• Girls Exploring Medicine and Stem-workshops promoting health sciences 

• Road to Success-mentoring and tutoring high school students 

• Wellness Warriors-wellness health workshops with high school students 

• Juvenile Detention Center-mental and health workshops 

Project Outreach offers numerous short-term volunteer opportunities to medical, physician assistant, social work, and public health students, as well as Robert Wood Johnson Medical School faculty and staff throughout the entire school year. Participants can volunteer with local organizations such as the Food Pantry, Wagner Farms, Elijah's Promise, and Interfaith-RISE to distribute food, assist with blood pressure screenings, perform teddy bear check-ups within the community, and much more.

A series of didactic sessions are offered through the medical school, many in partnership with student organizations at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and/or in collaboration with community leaders from the greater New Brunswick area. These sessions focus on pressing issues affecting underserved populations and provide students with valuable insights into community-centered care. Students who fulfill the requirements for the ICCUCE and/or SIRCH electives will receive transcript notation. Additionally, completion of the SIRCH elective is a prerequisite for eligibility to pursue Distinction in Service to the Community (DISC).

Students in this program are trained to provide health literacy workshops related to exercise, nutrition, heart-healthy behaviors, heart-related conditions, healthy habits and lifestyles, and will end with an integrative review and anecdotal evaluation. The program was developed to provide a collaborative forum in which students and community members could interact while enhancing proficiency in each other's language, understanding of their varied cultures, and how these experiences may enhance overall health care relationships for future health providers and patients.

This service elective includes several community-centered advocacy and support programs and/or collaborations. Examples include:

• Students attend the Robert Wood Johnson AIDS Program team meetings to learn from the interdisciplinary team about caring for this patient population. 

• Students participate in an ICCUCE lecture to gain insight into at-risk populations. 

• Students volunteer to conduct blood pressure screenings for community members with I-Rise's Global Grace Vans.

Students in this program are trained to present two sessions of interactive workshops on topics relating to HIV/AIDS, sexual health, and healthy relationships at local public high schools.

Gold

Maria B. Pellerano and Peter Montague
Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program/Steve Levin, MD, and Renee Levin
The Levine Family

Silver

Carol Terregino, MD
Iris G. Udasin, MD
Stress Factory Comedy Club

Bronze

Dan Mehan
Deborah M. Spitalnik, John R. Weingart, and Jeffrey Levine, MD
Heidi L. Copeland
Raritan Valley YMCA
Peiris Family

Friends

Stop & Shop (Somerset & Highland Park)
Target (Watchung)
Dunkin Donuts (Somerset)
Hansel and Griddle
Starbucks
Sam I Am Bagels
Duck Donuts