There is a required longitudinal experience in the Care of the Underserved curriculum. These experiences are also available to residents in any curriculum.
COMMUNITY PROJECTS/EVENTS/AGENCIES
Residents will be exposed to several of the community agencies and events on the below list, but each resident in this curriculum will pick one agency of interest to focus on, spending additional time as a member of the agency’s board or as an active volunteer. Some of the organizations our residents have engaged with most recently appear at the top of this list, followed by numerous other agencies that residents could explore.
- Motels4Now
- Food Bank of Northern Indiana
- Jail/Prison/Juvenile Justice Center
- Our Lady of the Road
- AIDS Ministries/AIDS Assist
- Broadway Christian Parish
- Center for the Homeless
- Fundraising/Grant Writing
- Focus Groups on Various Topics
- Habitat for Humanity
- Hannah’s House
- Hope Ministries
- Housing Authority
- Legal Aid
- Logan Center (Protective Services Committee)
- Meals on Wheels
- Northern Indiana Maternal and Child Health Network
- Physician of the Day at the Statehouse
- REAL Services
- Transformation Ministries
- Youth Service Bureau
Residents will invest in a project of their choosing that aligns with their interests and the needs of their organization of choice. In their third year, they will present their work on this project at the residency’s noon conference and will be invited to consider submitting their work for presentation or publication for a broader audience. Residents may ask any faculty member to be the advisor for this project subject to the availability of the faculty member.
RECENT AND CURRENT PROJECTS
In 2022, Dr. Caitlin (Catie) Casey (’22) championed the founding of the residency clinic (E. Blair Warner) food pantry. A long-held dream of the residency, Dr. Casey utilized her work within the Care of the Underserved Curriculum to build a relationship with the Food Bank of Northern Indiana and start a food pantry at the clinic. Mindful that E. Blair Warner sits within a food desert, this pantry offers a standard set of nonperishable items that can be given to anyone receiving care at the clinic, with the hope of minimizing the impact of food insecurity on our underserved patient population. In 2023, Dr. Deborah (Deb) Pavey (’23) expanded the offerings within the food pantry and made it possible for patients with transportation difficulties to have food from our pantry delivered to their homes. Further, in 2024, the residency began a large renovation to convert part of our space into a teaching kitchen. Currently, Dr. Kristen Wright (’25) and Dr. Gabriela (Gaby) Romo (’25) are working on designing nutrition classes for our patients that we hope to eventually supplement with cooking classes for patients following the completion of the renovation.
Presently, Dr. Victoria (Tori) Drzyzga (who graduated in 2024 and is now pursuing her Health Services Management Fellowship) is working with Motels4Now, a housing-first program created in August 2020 that houses the chronically unsheltered, and has developed Street Medicine South Bend (SMSB), a Street Medicine initiative for the city of South Bend. Working closely with this community partner, other community organizations, and several individuals within Beacon Health System, Dr. Drzyzga wrote a proposal for the initiative and, in conjunction with the residency’s leadership, launched Street Medicine South Bend on December 8th, 2022. SMSB offers urgent care services multiple times a month to guests at Motels4Now as well as other unsheltered individuals within the city of South Bend, expanding access to care for this underserved population. In addition to performing on-site diagnostic testing and treatment, SMSB works to connect these patients to long-term primary care and mental health resources. In 2024, SMSB received grant funding to be able to perform point-of-care hepatitis C testing and to incentivize treatment of hepatitis C. On the whole, the residency has invested over $20,000 of additional grant money into acquiring supplies for this project. Further, the Beacon Health System Foundation has been invaluable in funding this work. Research is ongoing to assess the impact SMSB has had on emergency department utilization among SMSB patients.
INTENTIONAL MENTORSHIP
While mentorship is offered in numerous rich and varied ways to all Memorial residents, an additional layer of support integrated into the Care of the Underserved Curriculum is biannual vision meetings with the track director. During these one-on-one conversations, residents will be invited to share their feedback on the rotations described above, and time will be set aside to discuss the resident’s hopes for the underserved elective and community project. This protected time allows for residents to self-reflect on their goals. Further, it creates opportunity for the director to help facilitate connections with individuals and community resources that can help ensure that the unique goals of each resident are realized within the customizable aspects of the curriculum.
