Summer 2021
FCE Volunteer Family update FCE program renamed, enhanced to include community partners Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine continuously strives to find new, effective ways to offer medical students transformational, intellectually challenging and inspiring learning experiences. That’s why we’re expanding and enhancing the Family Centered Experience (FCE) program. Changes include a new name — the Family & Community Centered Experience (FCCE) program — and the addition of 15 new community partners. For over a decade, FCE volunteer families have played an invaluable role in helping Geisinger Commonwealth medical students understand the importance of service to others through the medical profession, while sharing experiences about the spectrum of illnesses and their impact on family life. The expanded FCCE program: •
Builds on the strengths of the original FCE program
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Better integrates with the school’s educational mission and renewed curriculum
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Provides new opportunities for service learning with community partners
As a result, students will have new perspectives on all levels of the community, complementing their biomedical and clinical skills training and giving them experiences that demonstrate the personal side of medicine. The goals are to help students build empathy and professional identity skills through longitudinal service learning, verbal and written reflections and participation in Geisinger community outreach/wellness initiatives — all while working with the community to identify and address local priorities. Recently, a group of community members, agency representatives, students and faculty met to discuss northeast Pennsylvania’s community
concerns and develop service learning, advocacy and volunteer initiatives that will help lead to change and improvement. Over the four years, the FCCE will give medical students new perspectives that will encourage them to be not just great clinicians, but doctors who bring real humanity to medicine. Efforts will be guided by the CDC definition and action outlines of community engagement, and Liaison Committee on Medical Education criteria for service-learning initiatives. Continued on page 2
For additional information, contact: Carly Ellman, MSW, LCSW FCCE Program Director Assistant Professor of Medicine 570-955-1338 cellman@som.geisinger.edu
Sharon Myers FCCE Program Liaison 570-687-9707 smyers02@som.geisinger.edu
FCE Volunteer Family update | Summer 2021
Volunteers help shape future physicians’ professional identities By Christine Wojciechowicz & Merlin Paz It was an honor and privilege to have Patricia Straub as our FCE patient volunteer over the past year. We appreciate that she gladly gave two students in the Class of 2024 the opportunity to speak with her and get to know her. “The Family Centered Experience is a wonderful program,” she said. “The students are interesting, and they follow up multiple times a year and visit when possible.” When we first called Ms. Straub, she was friendly and welcomed conversations. She told us about her family, her pets and how her life has been during the pandemic. As we got to know Ms. Straub, her positive attitude and optimism were unwavering. She always looked at the bright side of any situation, even as a patient with a medical diagnosis. She refused to be defined by the diagnoses and consistently spoke about the compassion that her healthcare team showed her. As future physicians, we asked what she considered the most important qualities in a provider. She told us that she most appreciated those who take the time to
Merlin Paz
Christine Wojciechowicz
MD Class of 2024
MD Class of 2024
communicate every aspect of her health and who are present in the moment. The FCE is a wonderful opportunity for Geisinger Commonwealth students to learn about the longitudinal aspects of patient care, and how important the patientphysician relationship is with our patients. We’re so grateful to have patient volunteers who help shape our professional identity. Our time spent with Ms. Straub has been invaluable, and we look forward to learning so much more from her in our second year.
Family & Community Centered Experience program continued We’re excited and grateful to be partnering with: The United Neighborhood Centers, Food Dignity Movement, Jewish Family Services, Friends of the Poor, Catherine McCauley House, Geisinger, Women’s Resource Center, Regional Education Academy for Careers in Health – Higher Education Initiative (REACH-HEI), Women with Children Program, Educational Opportunity Centers Inc., Nativity Miguel Scranton, S.T.A.R.S. (Students Together Achieving Remarkable Success) Program/Marywood University, Maternal and Family Health Services, The Children’s Advocacy Center and The Scranton School for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children. Each agency has identified a project that students will complete over 18 months. After they work closely with the agency, students will partner with individual families to develop relationships, explore members’ perspectives and understand them as patients — and people. Students will develop professional skills including empathic communication (including listening); a non-
judgmental approach to discussing personal points of view; ethical considerations of complex relationships among people, their families and their environmental supports; and society’s approach to health, illness and wellbeing. In Rachel Remen’s words, “There is a great deal more to personal wholeness than physical health and more that medicine can offer beyond curing of illness.” This experience is intended to help students: value people as they choose to live; learn from others’ stories; gain an appreciation of the impact of health, changes in health or other challenges on a family’s life; gain an appreciation for how professional behaviors can direct people toward or away from a partnership with their physician; begin or further develop and demonstrate compassionate and empathic communication skills; encourage reflection on their own experiences and views. Thank you for your continued support. We’re excited to start this new collaboration with our community.
FCE Volunteer Family update | Summer 2021
Medical students express gratitude for family volunteers The following comments were shared by Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine medical students describing their experiences with family volunteers… “The FCE experience was very beneficial. The longitudinal exposure provides a new perspective on disease and care. It serves as a welcome reminder (via our FCE interactions) of why we are in medical school. This can sometimes get lost in the mountains of information we are otherwise responsible for knowing for other classes, and being grounded by our interactions ensures we as students appreciate the opportunity we have and the position we are in.” “Our family volunteer is wonderful! I really enjoyed getting to know her over the past year and look forward to continuing our connection next year. She had great insights regarding the characteristics that she valued in her physicians, which was the part of the experience I found most beneficial.” “My experience with the FCE program was great. I thought it was meaningful, productive and heartwarming. I will take perspective I gained from my family for the rest of my career.” “Our family volunteers were incredibly nice and thoughtful, and it has been a pleasure getting to know them this year. I enjoyed the experience as it is great to meet real people with the pathology we are learning. It helps me remember that there is an entire person that I need to care for and not just cure a disease.” “Our family volunteer is responsive when we reach out and very kind when we talk to her. The three of us get along very well together and FCE is a very positive experience.”
“We really enjoyed talking with our family volunteer and her daughter. She is very willing to talk about her experiences in healthcare, and we learned a lot from our meeting. I am excited to continue talking with her and to continue learning from her stories. She and her daughter are very sweet and kind people who are happy to help us become better future doctors.”
“Overall, we found the FCE experience to be greatly rewarding. We learned a lot about what the current medical landscape is like, as well as the good and bad things about today’s healthcare system. In addition, our family was very open, honest and sincere and treated us like one of their own, which we really appreciated. We truly look forward to meeting them again soon.”
“Our family volunteer was very emotional and vulnerable about their experience and, because of that, I thought the experience was very valuable. Had it not been for their love of sharing stories and passion for education, I would not have gotten as much out of this experience as I did.”
“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed getting to know my FCE volunteer. She made the FCE a fantastic experience.”
“I loved FCE! I loved the opportunity to learn from a real human not only about the aftereffects he was dealing with regarding his disease but also about all the other factors that contribute to our life and our health and wellness in general. It added to the ‘holistic’ approach to medicine that I am looking for.”
“I found the program to be worthwhile and I enjoyed my conversations with my FCE volunteer. She is an incredibly resilient woman and has taught me much about how a patient can persevere.”
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