Community Service

FOCUSED ON COMMUNITY ENGAGED CARE

Our various colleges have long been engaged in community outreach, locally, statewide, nationally, and internationally. Additionally, UTHSC has launched a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) titled, “Community Engaged Care.” Administered through the Office of Health Disparities Education and Community Engagement, the QEP, a comprehensive five-year plan, is developed to train all UTHSC students to recognize and address the social determinants of health. The plan, still in its formative stages, is already having an impact on our community.

1,100 Memphians have received care through the Community Engaged Care program under a new model for health fairs that integrates basic medical services and dental screenings with legal, education, and social services.

100 Health care students participated in a new model of the Serving the Underserved program, fostering a dialogue on health care among underserved populations and the ways poverty shapes the health lives of people and communities.

$35,585 Worth of oral health services were provided to 124 middle school students from Memphis’ Freedom Preparatory Academy during the College of Dentistry’s annual Give Kids a Smile Day in February.

50 Shelby County students participated in the UTHSC Student National Medical Association’s “Dream BIG,” a free conference offering workshops on cultural competency, goals and professionalism, team building, and health.

$100,000 Has been raised by UTHSC since 2009 for diabetes research through the StepOut To End Diabetes campaign and the Denim for Diabetes campaign.

8Special-needs children were helped by physical therapy and occupational therapy students through the GoBabyGo! Memphis Rodeo that gave them specially designed ride-in toy cars modified for their needs.

331 The Rachel Kay Stevens Therapy Center has helped 331 children, trained 56 teachers, and worked with 184 parents, since it opened in 2016. The Third-annual Rachel Kay Stevens Art Show and Auction to raise money for the center, the only student run, pro bono OT clinic in the Mid-South, was held in July.

320 Free medical screenings, immunizations, and health information were provided to more than 320 grade school and middle-school students at the 31st annual Back to School Family Affair put on by Omega Ministries/Omega Healthy Practices and UTHSC in July.

HIGHLIGHTS

• In partnership with Community Engaged Care, the Graduate Student Executive Council, and the College of Graduate Health Sciences launched the inaugural Biomedical Symposium on the Social Determinants of Health, while the College of Medicine and the Council on International and Area Outreach launched the inaugural Health Disparities Symposium. These events brought experts to campus to speak and serve on panels to highlight the challenges and opportunities in advancing health equity. • Peg Thorman Hartig, PhD, APN-BC, FAANP, professor in the UTHSC College of Nursing, received the Renee S. Frazier Advocacy and Community Service Award from the Common Table Health Alliance in recognition of Dr. Hartig’s personal and professional dedication and selfless commitment to health equity in the Mid-South.

She is the first person to receive this award. • In June, UTHSC hosted the inaugural “Everyone at the Table” symposium to bring together researchers, community members, and health care providers who

are working to identify the best ways to engage AfricanAmerican men in prostate and colorectal cancer research studies. • The College of Medicine launched a program with the

City of Memphis Parks System to educate area teens on basic health issues and introduce them to careers in health care. The UTHSC M.A.R.V.E.L. Summer Science Camp was piloted at the Hickory Hill Community Center, where teens, ages 13-18, met once a week with physician leaders to get information about health issues, such as how to stop bleeding, how to recognize stroke, basic survival skills, and skin care and protection. • UTHSC opened a Youth Advocacy Coalition in late

August in collaboration with the Shelby County Government Division of Community Services to provide support and community-based resources for at-risk and justice-involved youth, ages 12-17, and their families, providing trauma-informed screenings, individualized recommendations for referrals to community-based behavioral and trauma-related services, and follow-up.

OUR STUDENTS ARE LEADERS IN THEIR FIELDS

Michael Anthony James, DDS College of Graduate Health Sciences: Dentistry

Michael Anthony James, from Mount Vernon, New York, is the first college graduate in his family. A student in the UTHSC College if Graduate Health Sciences, he is pursuing a master’s degree in dental science with a concentration in endodontics. After graduating from Morehouse College in Atlanta, he chose a career in health care management working with Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield in Manhattan. While there, he obtained a master’s degree in public health from Hunter College, where his research focused on health care disparities between white-collar and bluecollar workers. He was accepted into the UTHSC College of Dentistry in 2009 and completed his studies in 2013. Dr. James returned to New York after graduation and completed a general practice dental residency at Montefiore Hospital/ Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He served as chief resident in the endodontic fellowship there. After his residency, he practiced general dentistry in New Paltz, New York, for two years before enrolling in the graduate endodontic program at UTHSC, which he completed in 2018.

Amanda Bodkin College of Health Professions: Medical Laboratory Science

A typical Friday for Amanda Bodkin begins at 8 a.m. and doesn’t end until 7 a.m. the following day. A graduate of the UTHSC Medical Laboratory Science program, Bodkin is not only studying full-time to earn her Master of Cytopathology Practice degree, but putting her MLS degree to use working as a med-tech generalist at Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Hospital. “I work overnight four nights a week for 10 hours,” she said. She does all this to support her eight-year old son, Ayden. “I want to set a good example for him,” she said. During her senior year of high school, Bodkin received an art scholarship to train in graphic design. A summer job led to a full-time managerial position, however, after having her son, she decided to pursue something new. “Science and being in a lab have always been my thing,” she said. “You are screening things, you are looking and trying to see if there is cancer. You are diagnosing cancer and passing it on to the pathologist and they make that final call, but you know you are impacting someone’s life and you are changing it, whether it be for the better or the worse. You’re helping them take a step forward, one way or another.”