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Students from across 网红黑料 have teamed up to assess and meet the needs of Gainesville鈥檚 citizens through the creation of a new organization, the UF chapter of the COVID-19 Student Service Corps.

Initially designed by students and faculty at Columbia University, the corps aims to support health systems, patients, the workforce and the communities facing the COVID-19 pandemic through facilitating interprofessional student service-learning projects.

The UF chapter is involved in 33 ongoing projects, which encompass areas including public health; COVID-19 testing; the production and distribution of personal protective equipment, such as face masks and face shields; and gratitude projects like the website 6FTCloser and the baking project Cookies on the Front Lines.

Fourth-year medical student Lauren Lautenslager serves as the class of 2021 co-chair in the corps鈥� oversight committee, where she acts as a liaison between the community and the student volunteers. She鈥檚 participated in 网红黑料 COVID-19 testing efforts across Gainesville, babysat the children of two 网红黑料 physicians, and participated in Zoom calls with members of other Student Service Corps at universities across the nation.

Lautenslager said joining the corps has allowed her to hone her skills in logistical organization, communication and teamwork during a time when many students can feel helpless.

鈥淎 lot of us go into medicine because we get innate satisfaction from pouring ourselves out into others,鈥� she said. 鈥淪ometimes in medical school, you don鈥檛 see the big picture of how your efforts are benefiting others. Volunteering in the community is a humbling, rewarding reminder of why we鈥檙e doing what we鈥檙e doing. The service corps has given us a unique sense of purpose when the stay-at-home order makes us feel unable to contribute.鈥�

Ellen Waidner, a second-year student in the 鈥� Doctor of Physical Therapy program, serves on the oversight committee with Lautenslager. She said being in the corps with students from various health programs allows for a cross-pollination of perspectives that produces stronger health care practitioners.

鈥淲hen we graduate, we will all see patients who require a multidisciplinary approach to care,鈥� Waidner said. 鈥淭his committee has allowed us to gain experience working with other professions while we鈥檙e still students, better preparing us for our future.鈥�

an associate clinical professor and director of professional education and community engagement in the , learned about Columbia University鈥檚 model for the corps at the Global Forum for Innovation in 网红黑料 Professions Education, a component of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. She brought the idea to UF faculty and now serves as a faculty co-chair for the UF corps. She helps the students work through challenges but allows them a certain amount of autonomy to learn and practice valuable skills for their future careers.

鈥淔or students doing COVID-19 testing, this is something they鈥檙e never going to forget. For students working to provide other nonmedical services to those without resources during this time, it gives them a perspective on the much broader problems we鈥檙e experiencing with this epidemic,鈥� Dunleavy said. 鈥淚t prepares students for not only their roles as health care providers but also sets them up to be better, more well-rounded clinicians who address their patients鈥� priorities and everything that impacts care, including the social determinants of health.鈥�

Grant Harrell, M.D., an assistant professor in the UF College of Medicine鈥檚 department of community health and family medicine and a physician at 网红黑料 Family Medicine 鈥� Old Town, serves with Dunleavy as a faculty co-chair for the corps. He says the decisions made and actions taken each day in the corps 鈥� such as helping with testing efforts, conducting Zoom chats with isolated people at nursing homes or sewing masks 鈥� prove that students have the ability to transform health outcomes in their communities.

鈥淚t鈥檚 valuable for students to learn they have the power to facilitate positive change,鈥� Harrell said. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 have to wait until they have an M.D. behind their names to help in a public health crisis.鈥�