WORCESTER MEDICINE
JEDI or Die A Young Attending’s Perspective on LGBTQIA+ Representation and Inclusivity in Medicine Continued lawcenter.org 4. Health Care Rights and Transgender People: www.transequality.org/know-your-rights/ healthcare
Now We Turn Unto Our Calling: Medical Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic Calvin Schaffer, Sabahat Rahman, Sarah Ferreira, Bennett Vogt and Paula Whitmire shown left to right
there is a lack of representation of these populations in research
studies. do you see this gap being bridged in the near future?
As a matter of fact, there has been an increase in LGBTQA+ research in recent years. Unfortunately, there is still a gap in the number of published studies – something which is common with research studies revolving around other minority groups as well. I hope to see an increase in well-designed, published research in the near future. + Dr. Salama is a graduate of Cairo University Faculty of Medicine and trained in Health Care Management at The American University in Cairo, Egypt. He then spent time at the International Organization for Migration, a branch of the United Nations, providing care to vulnerable migrants and victims of trafficking. He did part of his medical training at Harlem Hospital Center in New York City and completed his internal medicine residency at Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester, before joining Fenway Health in Boston in 2018. With a focus on the LGBTQIA+ community as well as people living with HIV/AIDS, Fenway Health provides comprehensive and equitable access to health, in addition to research, education and advocacy for these communities. Dr. Parul Sarwal is a PGY-III internal medicine resident at Saint Vincent Hospital.
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e came to medical school with the desire to address social issues.
But as the pandemic devastated our community, we often heard the best way we could help was to stay home and study. However, we felt our physician identity, our lifelong oath and commitment to serve our patients, began when we put on our white coats. With countless health care providers risking their lives every day to continue to uphold their own oaths, we felt compelled to do the same. While the authors were involved in many of the student volunteer efforts, we cannot begin to take credit for the magnitude of the projects taking place. However, we wish to share some of these projects to emphasize how impactful mobilizing the often untapped medical student population has been to a public health response. Despite lacking a framework for student action, students at UMass Medical School were able to create a COVID-19 Student Task Force. In collaboration with mentors, school administrators and community partners, the group supervised over 25 student-led projects across two hospital systems and several counties in Massachusetts (1). Within a few months, students helped collect and deliver over 20,000 pairs of gloves and 1,000 N95 masks to local hospitals, performed respiratory fit testing of over 1,000 hospital employees, created 130 gallons of hand sanitizer and trained an entire hospital network of 850 staff across 60 outpatient clinics on telehealth technology. Students supported local nursing homes by partnering with elders to provide social connection, aided schools by helping students navigate digital learning, assisted in contact tracing efforts, raised money to provide food and drinks to front-line staff and volunteered at a field hospital (1). Through these experiences, as students got a more nuanced understanding of community needs, addressing inequity became a key focus of student efforts. Medical students worked to transform their in-person, free clinic program to telehealth to ensure patients had access to care. Organized Medicine at UMMS and the Massachusetts Science Policy Network advocated on a state and national level to address policy issues related to COVID-19, including promoting the establishment of fellowships for medical students to participate as science policy advisors to leaders in state government. Lastly, students engaged with the Sustainable Health Equity Movement, an international movement pushing for a health equity-focused approach to the global COVID-19 response, presented a review of health inequalities in the United States. With the emergence of vaccines, students have again stepped up and hundreds have joined efforts across the city and state in partnership with Commonwealth Medicine. Through many of these efforts, we have had the opportunity to directly work with and learn from vulnerable and marginalized communities. Medical students and health care workers have risen to the occasion and worked countless extra hours and done a miraculous amount of work in the face of
MAY / JUNE 2021
