{"id":44694,"date":"2011-08-18T15:53:07","date_gmt":"2011-08-18T19:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=44694"},"modified":"2011-08-23T09:31:11","modified_gmt":"2011-08-23T13:31:11","slug":"a-commitment-to-community-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2011\/08\/a-commitment-to-community-service\/","title":{"rendered":"A Commitment to Community Service"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dr.<\/a>
Dr. Bruce Gould talks to a patient during a free Care Clinic in Hartford. (Michael Fiedler for UConn Health Center)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This story is the ninth of a multi-part series on the history of the Health Center. The entire series can be read at the <\/em>Health Center\u2019s 50th Anniversary website<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

As a public institution, the Health Center has always taken seriously its role in serving the people of Connecticut. Whether it\u2019s providing clinical care to the indigent, guiding urban youngsters into health careers or helping state residents obtain the health information they need, the Health Center is a driving force in enhancing the well-being of Connecticut residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe University of Connecticut Health Center has a long and rich history of serving the underserved,\u201d says Dr. Bruce Gould, associate dean of primary care and medical director of the Burgdorf\/Bank of America Health Center in Hartford\u2019s North End. The clinic provides outpatient health services to residents who might not otherwise have access to care. It receives approximately 30,000 patient visits every year.<\/p>\n

Students from the School of Medicine manage a weekly medical clinic at the South Park Inn homeless shelter in the capital city\u2019s South End. Begun in 1987, the clinic is staffed by student and physician volunteers who provide primary care, counseling and information to approximately 500 patients per year. Students also provide care at the Salvation Army South Marshall Street Clinic and hold a weekly clinic at the Willimantic Soup Kitchen. From June to October, volunteer students and faculty operate a Migrant Farm Workers Clinic, going to worker camps throughout the state to provide primary care to transient workers. Through the clinics, students provide much-needed medical care while learning about the unique needs of Connecticut\u2019s poor.<\/p>\n

Students, residents and faculty from the School of Dental Medicine volunteer their time and expertise at the annual Mission of Mercy, a large-scale, two-day dental clinic where dental treatment is provided at no cost to people who cannot afford it. In 2010, the team saw an estimated 2,000 patients.<\/p>\n

The dental school also partners with 17 community health centers and hospital clinics across the state, where students learn in a community setting while providing care to largely underserved populations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe as a school we have to be out there where the care is required,\u201d says Dr. Lamont \u201cMonty\u201d MacNeil, dean of the School of Dental Medicine.<\/p>\n

Dental school students and faculty see nearly 39,000 patients annually in the community, in addition to the 100,000 or so they see in Farmington clinics each year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are the major provider of care to the underserved in Connecticut,\u201d says MacNeil. The school is also the major provider of Medicaid services in the state and last year provided more than $6 million of uncompensated care to Connecticut citizens. \u201cThis taxes us fiscally, and we have to be very efficient to accommodate the burden, but we see it as part of our mission as a state school.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2007, the Health Center launched the Urban Service Track, an innovative curriculum that prepares medical, dental and nursing students to serve the unique needs of urban populations. Developed in collaboration with community agencies, the curriculum includes many hours of community service. Students do everything from providing health screenings in urban neighborhoods to introducing residents to the benefits of community gardening.<\/p>\n

Attracting students from minority groups typically underrepresented in the health care field is the goal of the School of Medicine\u2019s Department of Health Career Opportunity Programs (HCOP), which has been led for 25 years by Dr. Marja Hurley, the interim senior associate dean for education and the associate dean for HCOP. The department provides programs and activities designed to give minority students early exposure to biomedical science careers and create a diverse pool of students who enter and complete medical school. The department also provides a supportive environment for minority students who enroll in the UConn School of Medicine.<\/p>\n

The School of Medicine runs Connecticut\u2019s Area Health Education Center, or AHEC Connecticut. A program of the federal Department of Health and Human Services\u2019 Health Resources and Services Administration, AHEC\u2019s goal is also to encourage young people from minority and underserved groups to pursue careers in health care. AHEC provides students with skills, experiential learning and volunteer opportunities designed to stimulate their interest in these careers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea is to create more health care providers while assuring a diverse workforce,\u201d says Gould.<\/p>\n

\n

An Information Gold Mine, Free to State Residents<\/h3>\n

The Health Center\u2019s Lyman Maynard Stowe Library, one of the finest medical libraries in the country, is also an invaluable resource for Connecticut residents. In addition to being open to the public for research, the library operates Healthnet, the Connecticut Consumer Health Information Network. Residents seeking information about a personal medical concern can call the library\u2019s Healthnet service (860-679-4055) weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and speak with an experienced medical information specialist who will research the caller\u2019s question and mail to him or her a free, customized packet of information. When calling evenings and weekends, the person may leave his or her name, telephone number and a brief message and someone will call them the next business day.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis service gives people an opportunity to learn more about a recent diagnosis and its related medical care,\u201d says Program Director Alberta Richetelle, \u201cI think the information we provide helps them make more informed decisions and have a more in-depth discussion with their doctor about their options.\u201d<\/p>\n

Healthnet also provides training to staff at public libraries across the state on how to help patrons research health questions.<\/p>\n

Library Director Evelyn Breck Morgen notes that the UConn Health Center Library is the only publicly available academic medical library in the state. \u201cEveryone is welcome to use our print and digital journals, textbooks and databases whenever the library is open,\u201d she says. Library hours, which include evenings and weekends, are listed at\u00a0http:\/\/library.uchc.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a public institution, the Health Center has always taken seriously its role in serving the people of Connecticut.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":44724,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[179,1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[94,2074],"class_list":["post-44694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uconn-health","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-01 00:01:28","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44694"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44945,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44694\/revisions\/44945"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/44724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44694"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=44694"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=44694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}