Students at MSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine are taking time out of their summer break to do volunteer work at shelters in Detroit.
First-year medical student Jaishree Palanisamy said the group is going to give residents physical exams at various shelters around Detroit, including a teen mother’s shelter, starting in May.
“Just depending on how that goes we’ll try to promote healthier activities as much as we can ... based on their population,” Palanisamy said.
She knows homeless people don’t have equal access to medical facilities and resources, so Palanisamy said they have to tailor the advice to what the residents are capable of.
Palanisamy and her roommate, first-year medical student Karishma Chopra, held a bake sale in Fee Hall to raise money for medical supplies for the Detroit medical mission trip, which will take up three or four days of their 10-day break.
Chopra said the bake sale is to raise money for gloves and other supplies that they are going to need to do the physical exams.
Palanisamy is the main organizer of the mission and she said it was a longer process to get it approved than she anticipated. But she knows as medical students they are capable of doing something more.
“Being medical students ... we have all this information, and why not make a bigger impact on a community that actually needs it?” Palanisamy said. “We have some training, and let’s put that to good use.”
Saroj Misra, the director of clinical clerkship curriculum for the College of Osteopathic Medicine, said the program provides benefits to both the students and the people they’re helping. Misra is one of the supervising physicians on the trip, and he said it’s a good opportunity for medical students to work on their communication skills and to create an attitude of giving back to the community.
“It reminds medical students that there’s more to being a doctor than physical ailments and treating patients in their office,” Misra said.
They chose Detroit because it has a larger population of people in need, Palanisamy said, and that gives them a better chance to help more people at one time.
Chopra said they are always looking for opportunities to volunteer, especially during breaks, because they have busy schedules with classes year-round. It’s a good way to practice clinical skills while helping others, she said.
Things like this help medical students remember they’re meant to give back to the community and be a civil servant, Misra said.
“I like giving back to the community and I like interacting with all different kinds of people, and you get to learn a lot from people when you volunteer,” Chopra said. “It also helps you grow as a person, while you’re helping others.”
