Lisa Slatt, MEd
Coordinator
slatt@med.unc.edu
919.966.3912

Campus Box 7595
Chapel Hill, NC
27599-7595

Community Service

CAMPOS students are required to perform 10 hours of service a year to the Latino community during their first two years of medical school. The goal of the service requirement is to give students a richer understanding of this community and its needs. Travel time to and from the community service and any formalized training your receive in prepartion for the event may be applied to the total hours; however, at least 5 of the annual 10 hours must be in direct service to the community. To document your service, please scroll to the bottom of this page.

CAMPOS students have the option of fulfulling their requirement through a program in Siler City, El Proyecto Bienestar Chatham. Siler City is approximately a 40 minute drive from Chapel Hill . Proyecto Bienestar allows CAMPOS students to help individual Spanish speaking people in Siler City complete a Health Risk Assessment (HRA). The HRA has questions about health behavior and health history and includes screening tests such as blood pressure, blood glucose, cholesterol.  Students may participate in “quick screens” at local events in churches or worksites, where they will perform screens for cholesterol, blood sugar, and complete height, girth, and BMI measures.

A second opportunity with El Proyecto Bienestar will include a more in-depth session with the patient where the student will conduct a brief health history, complete an interview with the client using the Health Risk Appraisal form, then print and review the HRA report with each client and do some counseling on the results using motivational interviewing techniques.  When appropriate, students will refer the client to a local physician, nutrition classes, a Hispanic Diabetes Program, a Cardiac Rehab program or one of the other services offered locally.   This project provides a great service to the community - the screening tests alone are a $150 value and we will be helping people access local healthcare resources. Funds to support this project come from the North Carolina Health and Wellness Trust Fund. This is the priority community service project endorsed by CAMPOS.

The quick screen events scheduled are: September 29 th , 2007, at a Townsend Poultry Health Fair that involves approximately 1400 employees and their families, and a December 1, 2007 event at the El Camino Hispanic United Methodist Church in Siler City . You must receive training for use of the cholestech machines and performing finger sticks, along with gaining familiarity with the quick screen procedure. The training will occur on September 19 th . Kevin Sitko, a second year CAMPOS student coordinates the events. He can be reached at Kevin_Sitko@med.unc.edu . You may also sign up to travel to the Initiative during a weekday to conduct Health Risk Appraisals. These are conducted completely in Spanish Based on your availability, appointments will be made for clients (similar to a doctor visit) and you will conduct the intake, interview, and counsel the patient, based on the findings from a tailored, computerized report that is generated for the client. This was must be arranged in advance by calling Dr. Pam Frasier in Family Medicine or e-mailing her at pfrasier@med.unc.edu . Dr. Frasier is the CAMPOS community service coordinator.

Other Ways to get involved

The Community Service Steering Committee has identified ways for getting involved. They range from on-going projects led by CAMPOS students to one-time events. Options are listed below with contact information. You can, of course, develop your own community service project if you choose.

• SALSA ( www.med.unc.edu/salsa ): Spanish-speakers Assisting Latinos Student Association
• El Pueblo ( www.elpueblo.org ) is a North Carolina non-profit statewide advocacy and policy organization dedicated to strengthening the Latino community
• UNC Hospital Pediatrics Department- volunteer clinical interpreter (shifts 3-4 hours/week, oral/written assessment required- contact Harriett Purves at hpurves@unch.unc.edu
• M.A.N.O (Mujeres Avanzando hacia Nuevas Oportunidades) - Teach ESL to local Latina women, including childcare and mentoring as integral components of this program. Intermediate Spanish, application required. ( www.unc.edu/student/orgs/mano or contact uncmano@yahoo.com )
• B.O.L.D. - Program similar to M.A.N.O, except intended for local Latino men who want to learn English. Intermediate Spanish, application required. Contact Wes Grigston at grigston@email.unc.edu )
• North Carolina Farmworkers Health Program: The NCFHP's mission seeks to improve the health of migrant and seasonal farmworkes and their families in the State. Internships available for the summer of 2008. Sites are available around the state. Contact Fiorella Horna-Guerra at 919.733.2040, ext 235 or go to their website.

Documenting your service

Please complete the CAMPOS Community Service Report Form for each service activity you perform. Email your completed forms to Patty Neff, the staff assistant. Patty will contact you at the end of each semester if she has not heard from you.