Washington, D.C., November 8, 2003 - In recognition of their longstanding, institutional commitment to serving the needs of their local communities, Creighton University School of Medicine and University of Nebraska Medical Center have both been awarded the Outstanding Community Service Award from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). This is the first time in history that two academic medical centers have received this award, which was presented today at the AAMC 114th Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

The Outstanding Community Service Award, established in 1993, recognizes exceptional community service programs that go beyond the historical role of academic medicine to reach communities whose needs are not being met through the traditional healthcare delivery system. Although Omaha, Nebraska - where both universities are located - is a relatively affluent community, it has substantial populations of underserved residents, including elderly poor, immigrants, and African American, Native American and Latino minorities. As Nebraska's only two medical schools, Creighton University School of Medicine and University of Nebraska Medical Center both received this award for their community service contributions to the state's residents.

Creighton University School of Medicine

Creighton University School of Medicine's commitment to public service has been the forefront of its mission since the medical school was established in 1892. At that time, the school's founders built a free clinic for the poor, which was staffed by faculty and students of the medical school. Today, in keeping with its Jesuit Catholic mission, Creighton serves hundreds of thousands of community members annually with a large number of service programs, activities and collaborations. Some examples of the school's community service activities are:

• The One World Community Health Center was established several decades ago as a clinic for Native Americans. It has since evolved, along with the community's demographic, and now provides care to approximately 14,000 Latino patients annually as well as to a rapidly growing number of Sudanese immigrants. Eighty-five percent of the clinic's patients are below the federal poverty level. Most of the professional and administrative staff are Creighton graduates. Medical school faculty, residents, and students provide family practice, pediatric, fetal-maternal medicine, dental, and laboratory services for the center.
• The CUMC Partnership in Health program supports public education, access to health services, and disease prevention and detection. In collaboration with many community-based organizations, the program offers campus- and community-based education and awareness activities for healthcare providers, residents, students, and community members. Creighton staff members and students organize and conduct healthcare forums and screenings for tuberculosis, eye disease, prostate cancer, diabetes, and high blood pressure, as well as provide school physicals and immunizations. The Partnership in Health program provides translated health care materials and assists with Medicaid and state children's health insurance program enrollment.
• Community Resources for Infants and Babies is a program intended to reduce infant mortality, to eliminate disparities in health care, and to eliminate barriers preventing children and their families from accessing needed health care. The CRIB program, under the direction of the medical school's assistant professor of medicine and pediatrics, works in partnership with organizations across Nebraska and is supported by the national Health Resources and Services Administration's Bureau of Primary Care.
• The Reach Out and Read program promotes literacy among inner city and economically disadvantaged children. Started in 1998, by a Creighton faculty member and medical resident, the program provides age and ethnically appropriate reading material for children from six months to five years of age and educates parents about the importance of literacy and early reading. The program operates at Creighton pediatric clinics in predominantly poor neighborhoods. Each year, more than 1,500 books are given to children to take home.

University of Nebraska Medical Center

As the state's only publicly supported academic health sciences center, University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) is strongly committed to addressing the needs of Nebraska's geographically expanse communities. UNMC's institutional vision emphasizes a commitment to social responsiveness to rural and urban underserved populations. Some examples of the schools community service activities include:

• UNMC students run a weekly, year-round clinic to provide care to the medically underserved in a culturally diverse and low-income section of South Omaha. Through the SHARING Clinic (Student Health Alliance Reaching Indigent Needy Groups), medical students experience more direct and comprehensive patient care responsibilities in their first two years of education. Over the years students have expanded the clinic's services to include medical exams, pharmacy, social services, and laboratory/X-ray services.
• To address the health concerns of a diverse, underserved area of North Omaha, UNMC asked community residents to join an advisory group later named the North Omaha Community Care Council (NOCCC). On the council's advice, a new facility was built in the community to provide healthcare services and to serve as a training site for medical students. Recent NOCCC events have included the Black Family Health and Wellness Association Health Screenings, the All Stars Alcohol and Drug Prevention Youth Program, mobile nursing center clinics, annual bicycle safety rodeo, and a diabetes support group.
• All UNMC rural outreach education activities are developed by the school's Rural Health Education Network, a state funded program that includes initiatives like the Family Medicine Residency Program Rural Training Track. The Family Medicine Rural Training Track, the largest in the nation, takes resident physicians out of urban centers and into rural areas to prepare them for rural practice and to increase the likelihood that they will choose to practice in such areas later in their careers. Ninety percent of the physicians who completed this training track now practice in rural communities.
• UNMC's Community Academy Health Science Careers Exploration Program provides hands-on learning experiences in the health sciences to students in eighth through twelfth grades. The program emphasizes the recruitment of underrepresented minorities, females, and students who come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

"Nebraska residents are fortunate to have two service-oriented academic medical centers in their communities," said AAMC President Jordan J. Cohen, M.D. "Creighton University School of Medicine and University of Nebraska Medical Center supply essential health services to the medically underserved, while providing students with the clinical training and experience necessary to become competent, compassionate physicians."

Medical schools and teaching hospitals provide health care resources to the more than 70 million uninsured and underinsured Americans.

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The Association of American Medical Colleges is a not-for-profit association representing all 129 accredited U.S. and 17 accredited Canadian medical schools; nearly 400 major teaching hospitals and health systems, including 68 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers; and 94 academic and scientific societies. Through these institutions and organizations, the AAMC represents 109,000 faculty members, 67,000 medical students, and 104,000 resident physicians. Additional information about the AAMC and U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals is available at www.aamc.org/newsroom.

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