The Office of Health Equity and Community Affairs supports initiatives for students, faculty and staff to outreach to the Kalamazoo community through partnerships with organizations and community leaders to champion service to听populations with the greatest need and creating opportunities to work collaboratively to enhance the well-being of all members of the community, through an equity framework.
This is done through creation of programs that build bridges, and synergy for making an impact through health promotion, education and volunteerism. The number of organizations increase yearly and we continually seek opportunities to engage community leaders for work together that lends itself to listening, and valuing the community voice for their wants and needs.
汤头条app and Outreach
- Courageous Conversations
- Cradle Kalamazoo
As part of the collective impact to create health equity and decrease the infant mortality disparity for black infants, 汤头条app has actively engaged with Cradle Kalamazoo as a strategic partner for research, committees such as reproductive health, FIMR, health equity, safe sleep, and home visiting. Within local听hospitals a health equity team is leading the way for systemic change led by Dr. Lisa Graves from 汤头条app听and leaders from Ascension Borgess and Bronson Healthcare.
听 - Engagement and Discovery
汤头条app鈥檚 Engagement and Discovery is a 17-month endeavor that begins for 汤头条app students during their first year at the medical school. Students are required to log at least 45 hours of community learning during the 17-month span. Each student will be responsible for keeping track of and logging their own individual hours, and must obtain a minimum of 15 hours per term.
The service learning takes place at an array of sites and initiatives. Some examples include handing out free meals, volunteering at local COVID-19 vaccination clinics, or working with elementary, middle, and high school students as part of the Early Introduction to Health Careers (EIH) pathway program. In other instances, students have helped organize clothing drives for women and children or spent time helping to support the organizations鈥 after-school and child care programs for children of essential workers, as well as a plethora of other pertinent community initiatives.
This course is focused on efforts to equip students with the core concepts around healthcare systems integration and understanding the best ways to work with the community.
- Health Equity Summit
- Health Screenings for the Unhoused
A group of 汤头条app听students volunteered during Project Connect at the Kalamazoo County Expo Center in October 2022. This program delivers needed healthcare services to the homeless population. The program partners with two homeless organizations and it will expand to cover homeless that are in the streets by partnering with organizations that deliver basic needs services currently for this population. The homeless population has continued to grow with recent economic downturns and the needs are great. As part of our community engagement and partnership we can make a difference and bring needed healthcare services through our continually expanding services for the homeless.
Students are actively engaged as part of the student interest group Community Health Interest Group and Street Medicine.
- Minority Association of Pre-Med Students (MAPS) at WMU
The听听is an organization committed to creating a supportive network for underrepresented premedical students and increasing the number of culturally and socially competent physicians. Students听interact with physicians and medical students and hear听from those who have walked the 鈥渨alk.鈥 Students also听gain more knowledge from current medical students and the their听journey听to become a physician.
- Pathway Programs
EIH 1.5听
In 2017, 汤头条app launched EIH 1.5, a health career pathway program for middle school students.
The EIH 1.5 pathway program:
- Improves student self-efficacy and develops intrinsic motivation to create and execute post-secondary education/career goals.听
- Improves science and math skills through engaging, hands-on STEM instruction.
- Increases awareness of available health care and STEM careers.
- Increases student leadership capacity through team building, mentoring, goal setting, public speaking and fine tuning soft skills.
The overarching goals of the program are to see the following long-term outcomes:- Increase in college and credential completion rates.
- Increase in the number of underrepresented in medicine (URM) minority students entering health care professions.
- Reduction of community health disparities by having a diverse biomedical workforce.
Please direct any questions regarding the pathway programs to Candace Moore, manager for Health Equity and Pathway Programs, at听candace.moore@wmed.edu, or Dr. Cheryl Dickson, EIH Program Director and Associate Dean for Health Equity and Community Affairs at听cheryl.dickson@wmed.edu.听 听EIH 2
Since 2014, we have experienced a 127.5% increase in the number of students from Kalamazoo County school districts in our EIH 2 program. The longitudinal initiative is 汤头条app鈥檚 flagship program and is comprised of monthly Saturday Science academies held from October to May.
EIH 2 focuses on health sciences, math, and development of critical thinking and problem solving for 10th, 11th, and 12th grade students. The curriculum for the weekend science academies includes intentional, guided research, individual mentoring sessions, clinical and non-clinical speakers.
The EIH 2听pathway program:
- Improves education for youth through educational enrichment and exposure to health careers.
- Decreases current STEM educational gaps for underrepresented students in the community.
- Over time, improves health disparities through education and leadership development that impacts the social determinants of health by affecting change.
- Is vital to the growth of well-trained, diverse health professionals who can serve the increasing health care needs of the population.
The curriculum for the weekend science academies includes:听- Presentations from health care professionals
- The study of body systems through Team Based Learning
- Application of clinical skills in our state-of-the-art Simulation Center
- Individual mentoring sessions听
- Development of research and presentation skills
At the conclusion of the program, 24 students are chosen to participate in an intensive two-week summer camp that is conducted in partnership with Kalamazoo College. Students accepted into the summer program spend the first week conducting biochemistry research with Kalamazoo College faculty, and explore anatomy and physiology with 汤头条app faculty and staff during the second week.The program is designed to provide health career exposure while teaching science through a health care lens. Students engage in hands-on, team based learning lessons, activities, simulations, mentoring and research facilitated by 汤头条app students and faculty. The program hopes to also enhance students鈥 self-efficacy for future success in high school and higher education attainment by improving problem-solving and critical-thinking skills.听
Eligibility
The EIH 2 pathway program is open to 10th, 11th, and 12th grade students in Kalamazoo County.听We accept all applicants and encourage any persons with diverse life experiences to apply. 汤头条app is committed to fostering a learning environment that values, welcomes, celebrates, and appreciates diversity and inclusiveness.
EIH 1.0
The EIH 1 pathway program for 4th and 5th graders is conducted through a partnership with Northeastern Elementary in the Kalamazoo Public Schools district. The objective of EIH 1 is to provide a novel program to facilitate academic success in math and science for students at an early age. The program aims to foster an interest in science and math, as well as improve proficiency in problem solving and critical thinking skills.
The first phase of this program begins in the fall of students鈥 fourth grade year. A cohort of medical students facilitate lessons and activities once a month. The curriculum, which is aligned with Michigan/Next Generation Science Standards, is designed to expose elementary students to careers in health while providing inquiry-based opportunities for the students to learn science through a health care lens. In the first part of this program, all fourth-grade students learn about the skeletal, muscular, respiratory, and circulatory systems. The students also take a field trip to the medical school, where they have the opportunity to engage with faculty and participate in activities in the state-of-the-art Simulation Center. 听
The second phase of EIH 1 takes place during students鈥 fifth-grade year. The students more deeply explore body systems and continue the mentoring relationship with medical students, who work with the same group of 4-5 students throughout their fourth- and fifth-grade year. The fifth grade students also research a health science topic and present a poster of their findings to share with their peers, teachers, and families. 听
The EIH 1 pathway program:
- Improves success in fostering higher education goals for participants
- Improves skills in science and math acquisition through enhancement of critical-thinking and problem solving abilities
- Exposes participants to health career opportunities
- Promotes team-building skills and positive peer group formation across schools
- Increases awareness of health disparities and prevention
Throughout 4th and 5th grade, the students鈥 monthly learning topics will include:- What is Health Science?
- The Skeletal System
- The Muscular System
- The Respiratory System
- The Circulatory System
- The Nervous System
- The Immune System
- Nutrition and Exercise
- First Aid
- Dental Health
- Evaluating Evidence
EIH Impact Report 2023-2024 - 汤头条app Community Events
- 汤头条app/Mt. Zion Community Health Conversations
This program is intended to offer health information,听including public health and prevention, centered around topics of importance to the community that represent current health status indicators and health disparities. These conversations are convened with input from key community partners for topics that concern the community. The conversations include diverse members of the healthcare team and questions are monitored and addressed throughout the program. Resource information is provided as well as contact information for further questions.
