Healthcare Education and Advocacy Reaching Toledo Schools (HEARTS)
TITLE: Healthcare Education and Advocacy Reaching Toledo Schools (HEARTS)
COURSE NO: SOMN 608
DEPARTMENT: Pediatrics
DURATION: Semester
DIRECTOR: Jeffrey Moore, MD
SEMESTERS AVAILABLE: M2 (fall) and M1 (spring)
NUMBER OF STUDENTS: 30 students may enroll
LOCATION: Reynolds Elementary School
REYNOLDS ELEMENTARY AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM DIRECTOR: Andrew Baden
GENERAL DESCRIPTION: This program allows medical students the opportunity to work with children in the Toledo community and to act as mentors and educators in an interactive way. Two times a month, medical students will be attending an after-school program currently held at Reynolds Elementary school and will be giving the children enjoyable public health lessons that stress the importance of basic healthcare including topics such as exercise, healthy eating, visiting the doctor, etc.
At the beginning of the elective, students will complete an orientating detailing expectations and requirements. During this time, the student coordinators will conduct a 60 minute module that will demonstrate the basic format of what the students are expected do for their own modules with the children. Starting in September, groups of 10 students will go to the school once a month to play with the kids, help them with their homework and conduct one health module. Each student is required to attend the Reynold’s program once a month for two hours. Of those visits, each student is required to give two to three 60 minute modules during the course of the program. Prior to each module, medical students will submit a lesson plan to the student coordinators and the after-school program director for approval, as well as create and prepare the module itself. Students will also attend at least two “Third Thursday” events in which families of the students who attend Reynold’s Elementary School go to the University Church once a month to collect fresh produce, groceries, etc. Medical students will be able to help the children with their homework at this time and meet the families of the students they are working with. Six months after the program start and once at the end of the program, students will submit reflection papers documenting what they found impactful throughout the experience.
This course has the primary aim of providing healthcare education to children in underserved communities in order to give children a knowledge base they can use to create healthy habits. Children that grow up not having direct access to healthcare may rely on their educational background to maintain their physical and mental health and this program gives children the foundational knowledge needed to do this. It also has the additional objective of allowing medical students to learn to communicate their medical knowledge through different outlets and in innovative ways to a population that may initially have a limited understanding of healthcare. By learning to do so, medical students will develop necessary skills to communicate to future patient populations and diverse communities.
EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: Students will:
- Describe the cultural and social determinants of health (EPOs: MK-2, MK-3, MK-3 PB-1, PB-3, SPB-2)
- Develop communication skills that allow them to interact with a population with a different knowledge base (EPOs: PB-1, IPC-1, IPC-3, PBL-1)
- Demonstrate strategies to educate children and their families in healthy lifestyle practices (EPOs: MK-7, PB-1, IPC-3)
METHODS OF TEACHING: Student presentations and reflection papers
PREREQUISITES: Must be a first of second-year medical student at the UTCOMLS in good academic standing; must attend orientation session
ECC Approved
July 2023