Return to Front PageVOLUME 6, NUMBER 4

 

Current & Choice New ideas in education, research and patient care Moving to a Different Beat: HIPHOP Is More Than Just Music for RWJMS Students by Jennifer Bush Members of the HIPHOP student steering committee present St. John's Clinic with a check for $5,500 at this year's HIPHOP 5K Run. Imagine living in a housing project about to be torn down in mere hours; being pregnant, alone, and afraid; or not knowing where your next meal is going to come from. These scenarios - the reality of life for far too many of our nation's citizens - are ones that many would just as soon forget. Not Jennifer Sherr. Sherr, a second-year student at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS), is the student director of the Homeless and Indigent Population Health Outreach Project (HIPHOP). She is one of more than 200 medical students, school faculty and staff, and community members who volunteer their time to HIPHOP, an umbrella community service organization that does everything from anti-tobacco education to prenatal care, and from cancer treatment to home building. "This is my light at the end of the tunnel," says Sherr, who has taught HIV/AIDS prevention to middle school students through the program. "I want to help out the community. Kids open up my eyes to a world I wouldn't see inside the walls of a medical school." HIPHOP was started in 1992 by a small group of dedicated medical students frustrated with the lack of community service opportunities for doctors in training. Today it's a well-structured organization - the largest student outreach program operating out of the Department of Environmental and Community Medicine at RWJMS. Supported by grants from the Corporation for National Service, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the J. Seward Charitable Foundation, among others, HIPHOP serves much of the New Brunswick, N.J. area. HIPHOP's leaders stress that the program is as much about educating students and training them to care for underserved populations as it is about helping the community. "This program provides a great benefit to both students and the community," says Bernadette West, Ph.D., assistant professor and chief faculty advisor to HIPHOP. "It gives medical students an opportunity to work in the community and recognize issues they otherwise wouldn't have focused on in the classroom." "We had a homeless man come speak to our student participants, and it was incredible," Dr. West continues. "He talked about what it's like to live on the streets of New York City, and students were astounded." "That is what this program is all about," says Susan Giordano, who directs HIPHOP together with Dr. West and a steering committee composed of 11 second-year medical students. "HIPHOP is an incredible eye- opening experience." HIPHOP for Credit HIPHOP is not just an extracurricular activity for medical students; RWJMS has incorporated HIPHOP into the medical school curriculum throughout the four years of school. First-year medical students at RWJMS are required to take an Introduction to the Patient (ITP) course, during which they spend a semester volunteering at a community site. The community sites offered include three HIPHOP programs. Under the first program, the Student Health Awareness Risk Reduction Project (SHARRP), students educate young people about a wide range of health issues including cultural diversity, substance abuse, disease prevention, and HIV/AIDS. The other two elective options allow students to shadow either physicians who care for underserved populations or medical professionals who work at health care sites for the homeless. In addition, first-year students who take part in HIPHOP electives are required to participate in the program's "Grand Rounds Seminars," a series of monthly discussions and lectures that focus on issues of importance in community-oriented primary care and preventive medicine. Students also have the opportunity to participate in a number of HIPHOP electives and volunteer opportunities, including: Cancer Outreach Elective (CARE). The CARE program matches medical students with patients undergoing cancer therapy. The students receive an introduction to clinical oncology and experience firsthand some of the social and emotional aspects surrounding cancer treatment. Maternity Outreach Elective (MOMs). The MOMs program provides prenatal care in underserved communities and teaches students about the cultural and environmental factors that affect the health of pregnant women. Students Teaching AIDS to Students (STATS). Through one-time visits to local schools, medical students educate high school students about HIV/AIDS and its prevention. Anti-Tobacco Workshops, Teens Against Tobacco Use (TATU). Under TATU, medical students teach tobacco-related workshops to fourth and fifth graders. Habitat/Harvest. Students build homes with Habitat for Humanity and, at local farms, harvest produce, which is donated to local shelters and food pantries. HIPHOP participants are giving more than their time to the underserved community. In 1999 students organized the first HIPHOP 5K Run to raise both funds and awareness. This year's race netted more than $5,000, which was donated to St. John's Clinic. The clinic, which provides health care for the uninsured and the underinsured, is using funds for specific testing needs of patients who are seriously ill and have insufficient or no medical coverage. But perhaps most importantly, HIPHOP is helping ingrain the importance of community service in future doctors and giving them hands-on experience caring for the underserved. "This program is the entire reason I went into medicine," Sherr says.

AAMC Home | Government Affairs | Newsroom | Publications | Meetings | Students and Applicants | About the AAMC | Search | Site Map
Questions and Comments | © 1995-2004 AAMC Terms and Conditions | Privacy Statement