For Immediate Release: July 19, 2006
Contact: DMS Communications (603) 650-1492

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Dartmouth Medical Students Awarded For Community Service Program

Hanover, NH--Dartmouth Medical School has been awarded a grant to expand the Mascoma Valley Free Health Clinic, which medical students launched through the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship program to bring health care to a community with few doctors and medical facilities.

At Mascoma Clinic, Dr. Tim Gardner, a
gastroenterology fellow & former chief resident in
medicine at DHMC & DMS student Sharon Silveira.

It is one of eight schools to receive a 2006 AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) Caring for Community grant, effective July 1, for medical student community service programs. The AAMC program funds projects initiated, developed and administered by medical students in collaboration with community agencies or other outreach activities. It is supported by the Pfizer Medical Humanities Initiative for up to four years.

"The is a real tribute to our students' ethic of dedication and service, of their commitment to health care in our community and beyond. It is what being a physician and a citizen is all about," said Dr. Stephen Spielberg, Dartmouth Medical School dean.

Dartmouth medical students established the clinic, a satellite of the Good Neighbor Clinic of White River Junction, Vermont, in 2003 to aid the medically underserved population in the Canaan, New Hampshire area. It expanded with funding from an Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Student Project Award and an Upper Valley United Way Emerging Needs grant, increasing access to medical care and medications for patients in need.

The AAMC grant will expand the scope of the Mascoma Clinic to include primary care services, more essential pharmaceutical resources and additional health education programs. During their second year almost half of the DMS class of 2008 volunteered at the clinic.

"The success of the clinic can be attributed, I think, to the spirit of community service at Dartmouth Medical School and to the fantastic doctors (completing fellowship training at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center) who volunteer their time to supervise the med students -- to say nothing of the patients themselves," noted medical student volunteer Kathleen Richard, now beginning her third year.

"We have all been privileged to work with the patients in Mascoma. For many, the experience provided the first opportunity to apply concepts learned in the classroom. For others, it was a reminder of why they wanted to become doctors, as they shared, and were touched by, their patients' struggles with acute or chronic conditions."

She added that both the Mascoma and Good Neighbor clinics function because, "physicians share their expertise, energy, enthusiasm and love of medicine with the student volunteers. In many ways they provide students with the perfect introduction to working as a member of a health-care team."

Since the Caring for Community program began in 2000, more than $1 million has been awarded to support medical student projects at 61 schools nationwide. Other 2006 grantees are: Emory University School of Medicine; State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center College of Medicine; Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine; University of Colorado School of Medicine; University of Mississippi School of Medicine; University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health; and Weill Medical College of Cornell University.

"The truth of the matter is that the participating students benefit as much as the patients they serve as they put their altruism and personal and clinical skills to work in these volunteer efforts. The satisfaction these students experience is both rewarding and exhilarating," said Dr. Robert Sabalis, AAMC associate vice president of student affairs and programs.

"We are very proud to support and honor the students who have committed themselves to such valuable community service projects," said Dr. Mike Magee, director of the Pfizer Medical Humanities Initiative. "These initiatives will inevitably benefit underserved individuals and direct resources to where they are needed most."

For more information about the AAMC Caring for Community Grant Program, go to www.aamc.org/about/awards/cfc.htm.

-DMS-

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