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UNC Undergraduates

Our Mission

As part of SHAC’s mission to promote interdisciplinary learning in the Health Sciences, our undergraduate volunteers serve alongside graduate and professional students in a variety of roles. Undergraduate students support clinic operations, provide interpreting services, and much more.

 

Interested in Volunteering?

***NOT ACCEPTING UNDERGRADUATE APPLICATIONS AT THIS TIME.*** Please keep an eye on the forms: https://heellife.unc.edu/organization/shacundergrads and fill out this form online

SHAC Triage

As a triage volunteer you will help with clinic flow and logistical operations. As patients walk up to the triage table, students will check them in for their appointment and ask them COVID screening questions. They will then direct them to sign a consent form and take them back to an exam room. Throughout the night, they could be responsible for sanitizing vitals machines and exam rooms. Shift: Wednesday, 5:00pm to 9:00pm. If you are interested, please contact shac_undergraduate@med.unc.edu.

SHAC Flourish

Flourish is the SHAC Nutrition Initiative and we focus on nutrition education and accessibility for both our patients and our community. We especially need help from people with a car, but you can help us out in many other ways. To stay updated, please join our page on Heel Life so you have access to our emails. Below is a list of ways you can get involved! If you have any questions, you may email us at shac_flourish@med.unc.edu

  1. Flourish GroupMe: We use this to coordinate volunteering, get clarification on this organization, and discuss questions you all have.
  2. GBM Slides: These go over who we are, what we do, our projects, our volunteer opportunities, our leadership opportunities, etc. in more detail.
  3. SHAC Donation Table Volunteering: You’ll be in the SHAC lobby assembling food donation bags, distributing them to patients as they leave the clinic, and talking to patients about how they can improve their nutrition. It’s a great way to get clinical experience! These will happen every Wednesday from 5:30pm – 9pm. Here’s a Daily Tar Heel article talking about this: https://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2021/10/university-flourish-feature. You do not need a car for this, as there are bus lines that take you to SHAC. Malik, our Nutrition Education chair, will send you more information once you sign up!
  4. SHAC Food Bank Driver Volunteering: This is one of the ways we get our food for our patients. You will be driving and picking up food from SHAC-Gilling’s food pantry in Chapel Hill and delivering the food to the clinic on Wednesday afternoons to provide healthy options for our patients. If you have a car and would like to help, please sign up!!! Details will be emailed to you a couple days before your scheduled pickup shift!
  5. Leadership Opportunities: We will send out leadership applications this month (application closed) and spend the rest of the semester transitioning new executive members into their roles. The roles we have available are: SHAC Nutrition Education Chair, Treasurer / Events Chair, Secretary, Publicity Chair, and Outreach Chair.

SHAC Get Covered Carolina 

SHAC Get Covered Carolina primarily helps with connecting patients to affordable, consistent healthcare. We do this by assessing patients’ healthcare needs and finances, and then direct them towards enrollment in Marketplace health insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, NC Health Choice (for children), and UNC Health Financial Assistance (previously known as Charity Care). We also help refer patients to community-based health resources such as SHAC Medical and Dental Clinics, which encompass an array of free health resources, and others such as sliding scale clinics.

Our volunteers become Certified Application Counselors (CACs) through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and are capable of counseling patients on many issues that create barriers to healthcare access. If you are interested, please email our program at shac_gcc@med.unc.edu

SHAC Interpreting

SHAC Interpreting provides Spanish, Mandarin, and other language interpreting services for the weekly medical clinics on Wednesday evenings. Interpreters will serve as the direct link between SHAC (doctors, medical students, pharmacists, social workers, triage, scheduling etc.) and patients, thus making significant contributions to the overall effectiveness of the clinic. From appointment interpreting to form translation, many patients count on the language abilities of our volunteers to receive quality care. Before volunteering, prospective interpreters must take an assessment to ensure language proficiency, which will determine their specific interpreting role. If you speak a second language and would like to be considered, please email shac_interpreting@med.unc.edu expressing your interest.

SHAC Gender Affirming Care *NOT ACCEPTING NEW APPLICATIONS AT THIS TIME*

The Gender Affirming Care Clinic is seeking undergraduates interested in helping our clinic obtain grants and external sources of funding for providing low-cost hormone replacement therapy for trans patients. Undergraduates will also have the opportunity to learn about hormone replacement therapy and how to work directly with pharmacists to provide low-cost care. Our projects are generally more long term and not “in clinic” so the time requirement is minimal/flexible. If you are interested, please email our clinic at shac_gac@med.unc.edu.