Medical students awarded community service grant
The School of Medicine Student Association has been awarded a $20,000 grant to assist with the development of three community service projects in the Norton neighborhoods of San Bernardino.
The competitively awarded grant is administered by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and is sponsored by the Pfizer Medical Humanities Initiative. Eligibility for the grant is restricted to projects that are initiated by students from one of the 125 United States medical schools and that are designed to promote continued student involvement in service to their communities.
Two School of Medicine students, Anunporn ("Tui") Srisawat and Renay Fredette, prepared and submitted the grant proposal.
The grant is for the purpose of expanding the Healthy Neighborhoods Celebration (HNC), the Community Kids Connection programs, and tutoring programs at the Bradley–Lewis Tutor/Mentor House. These programs all serve the Norton neighborhoods--the areas of San Bernardino and Highland that are south of Baseline Boulevard, and east of Waterman Avenue.
The grant, which is intended to provide seed money for program expansion is to be given in declining amounts of $8,000 for the first year, and $6,000, $4,000, and $2,000 respectively for the second, third, and fourth years of the grant.
The award letter specified that eligibility for the second, third, and fourth years of funding, "is contingent upon the achievement of the projects annual goals as noted in the proposal and the provision of a workable process for continued financial support of the project as grant support diminishes."
The first HNC took place on October 7, 2001, at the Social Action Community Health Systems (SACHS) Norton Clinic and involved a 5K and 10K run, a health fair, and information/service booths representing more than 40 different community service programs that serve the Norton neighborhoods and surrounding areas. Three hundred runners participated in the first race and about 1,000 people attended the health fair and celebration events. The HNC was initiated by the School of Medicine Student Association and received significant support from the LLU chancellor's office, the SACHS administration, the LLUMC office of community outreach, the Schools of Medicine, Nursing, and Public Health, and from local businesses.
The grant proposal expresses the intent to collaborate closely with the LLU Church EXEL program. The proposal also indicates that students from all of the schools within LLU, as well as community-based individuals are and will continue to be an integral part of the planned programs.
Community Kids Connection is a weekend children's mentoring program at the SACHS Norton Clinic, intended to expand to involve after-school tutoring. The grant award provides for costs associated with: a.) health screening during the annual health fair and follow-up after the fair; b.) expansion of the existing Community Kids Connection weekend program; and c.) academic tutoring programs for children on weekday evenings. The plan is for tutoring to be conducted at the Bradley–Lewis House and at the Women–Infant–Children (WIC) classroom at SACHS.
The Bradley–Lewis Tutor/ Mentor house, located at 948 East Norman Road in San Bernardino, opened in October, 2001, as part of the LLUMC strategic plan to address needs of the Norton neighborhoods. It provides low-cost housing for graduate students who repay their "rental advantage" by tutoring and mentoring the children in the neighborhood where they live. While the grant is for the purpose of expanding tutoring programs, the house also fosters children's gardens, family nutrition classes, family counseling services, computer and Internet access and training, and an ecology program for children and teens (see <http://www.healthycities. com/bltmh.htm>).
The first SACHS clinic was started more than 30 years ago to provide low cost care in the Norton area. The SACHS system now provides service to more than 40,000 patients each year. SACHS is part of Loma Linda University Adventist Health Sciences Center.
The award letter was sent to Renay Fredette, executive student director for the HNC from Robert L. Beran, PhD, vice president for student affairs and educational services for the Association of American Medical Colleges.
The next Healthy Neighborhoods Celebration and 5K and 10K race is scheduled for October 6, 2002, at the SACHS Norton in San Bernardino.
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