Student Updates

Visit East Boston with the Outreach Van Project

Every Thursday the Outreach Van Project (OVP), a group of first- and second-year medical students at BUSM, travels to East Boston to feed and care for the homeless population. The students unpack a van full of food, clothing and supplies, and distribute them throughout the night for anyone in need. They, along with a physician, also provide necessary medical care, and over the years have built a positive rapport with the clients. The students are there rain or shine, even on holidays, because they have become a reliable, consistent source of food and supplies for a population that desperately needs it.

One harsh December night, Gillian Smith, a videographer with the Communications Office accompanied the OVP. Under a single street light sat a maroon van with all of its doors propped open, inviting passersby to take something from inside. Outside the van stood half a dozen medical students, bundled up against single-digit temperature. With plastic gloves pulled over their winter ones, they scooped hot food into clear containers and handed it to a line of people waiting on the sidewalk.

The OVP was established in 1997 by the students to provide basic necessities to clientele in East Boston, where 20 percent of the population and 25 percent of children live below the poverty line. More than 1,400 people are served annually through this project.

Tips for Staying Safe in Vehicles for Hire

Do you know how to stay safe when using Uber, Lyft, taxi cabs or livery vehicles?  The Boston Police Department has created a safety tip sheet on ways to say safe when using vehicles for hire.  Please review the safety tips at http://www.bu.edu/police/2017/02/03/bpd-safety-in-vehicles-for-hire/

Students Distribute Mittens to Homeless During Annual Census

On Wednesday, Jan. 25, as BUSM students joined more than 300 volunteers across the city to gather data of the number of people living on the streets with the hopes of connecting them with shelters and clinics, they brought with them a special message of compassion in the form of hand-sewn mittens.

The mittens they distributed were a donation from BUMC Associate Provost Thomas Moore, MD.

“An awful lot of people who are homeless, but for a couple of bad decisions or bad breaks, would have had apartments in the South End,” Moore said. “They aren’t different from a lot of us.”

Moore was inspired to create something for the students to give to homeless they met during the census-taking process so the experience would be more of a bilateral exchange.

“I thought, ‘What can I do that would make any difference?’” Moore said. “The mittens are easy for me to do, so what the heck.”

Moore asked friends for any old or unused sweaters. He felted the sweaters, a process which involves putting the sweaters through a washing machine to change their texture, and followed a three-part pattern to design and sew the mittens together.

“If all goes well, it takes about 45 minutes to do a pair,” he said.

The mitten project began during Intersession, and he finished his last pair a week before the census.

“Almost all of the materials were donated from friends,” he said. “I set an original goal of 25 pairs, but had enough material to keep going, so I ended up making 35.”

On each pair Moore pinned a tag that had a Boston University sticker on one side and on the other a message that said simply, “We care about you.”

BUMC Faculty, State and Local Leaders Discuss ‘Model Interventions for Urban Homelessness’

Community leaders joined the Boston University Medical Campus community on Jan. 23 in Hiebert Lounge to discuss the current state of homelessness in Boston and surrounding areas.

BUMC Provost and BUSM Dean Karen Antman, MD, led panelists as they conducted the workshop, “Model Interventions for Urban Homelessness,” a full afternoon focused on addressing the issue as well as potential solutions.

Jim O’Connell, MD, President, Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, began the conversation by framing the homelessness issue. Then the audience of approximately 100 heard from three panels, which were divided into programs offered at the state, city and university levels. Each speaker shared information on their areas of expertise followed by discussions with the audience on the various topics related to their presentations.

One of the topics was the difficulties many organizations face in trying to help their clients experiencing addiction transition out of treatment and into a safer environment. One of the biggest factors, according to Boston Healthcare for the Homeless Chief Medical Officer Jesse Gaeta, MD, was a lack of available housing. “Without a place for clients to go, their chances of relapsing greatly increase, she said.

When asked what comes first, addiction or homelessness, O’Connell said homelessness certainly makes addiction worse, but the majority of people begin with an addiction and then transition into homelessness.

Among other topics of discussion were housing programs for at-risk pregnant women, city needle exchange programs and programs offered at BU. Highlights included an overview of the Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to aid police departments in helping opioid users seek recovery options instead of placing them under arrest; local outreach programs specifically targeted to addressing the population at the intersection of Melnea Cass Blvd. and Massachusetts Ave. and the data being collected at our point of care locations, such as hospitals, clinics and urgent care facilities.

The participants:

Panel #1 – Current and Planned Massachusetts Initiatives

• Monica Bharel, MD, MDPH, Commissioner, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, who discussed current initiatives in the Commonwealth;
• David Rosenbloom PhD, Professor, Health Law, Policy & Management, BUSPH; Board Member of the Police Assisted Addiction Recovery Initiative Group (PAARI), who discussed the policing of drug addiction: medical treatment vs. law enforcement;
• Jesse Gaeta, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Boston Health Care for the Homeless, who discussed the priority of obtaining an individual stable housing.

Panel #2 – Current and Planned Programs in the City of Boston

• James Green, Director, Emergency Shelter Commission, City of Boston;
• Jennifer Tracey, Director, Office of Recovery Services, City of Boston;
• Heavenly R. Mitchell, MHA, LSW, Director, Healthy Start Systems, who discussed the collaboration to provide case management and prioritized access to housing for homeless pregnant women.

Panel #3 – Boston University Programs

• Richard Saitz, MD, MPH, Chair, Department of Community Health Sciences, BUSPH, who discussed mortality among the homeless related to addiction, care management approaches and issues regarding entry access to care;
• Jeffrey Samet, MD, MPH, Professor and Chief of General Internal Medicine, who discussed the effectiveness of Office-Based Opioid Treatment (OBOT) and mortality data for homeless HIV-infected substance users;
• Harold Cox, MSSW, Associate Professor, Community Health Sciences, BUSPH, who discussed the work of the “Life on Albany” Committee.

Feb. 9: Black History at BUSM

Second Annual Interactive Discussion: Black History Month at BUSM

Hosted and Sponsored by the BUSM Alumni Association

Thursday, Feb. 9
11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.
Instructional Building, Hiebert Lounge
Lunch Included
RSVP HERE

Introductions

Jean E. Ramsey, MD '90, MPH '08, Associate Dean for Alumni Affairs, Associate Professor of Ophthalmology and Pediatrics

Historical Focus: Solomon Carter Fuller, MD

Chantale Branson, MD '12, Associate Clerkship Director, Neurology 

Interactive Panel Discussion

"Microaggressions: Hidden Messages That Hurt"

Participants:

• Kermit Crawford, PhD, Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry
• John Polk, MD '74, Assistant Dean for Student Affairs
• Dallas Reed, MD '10, Assistant Professor of ObsGyn, Tufts Medical Center
• Cheryl Scott, MD '82, BUSM Dean's Advisory Board; Preventive Medicine, Oakland, Calif.
• James Henry Tarver III, MD '88, Cardiologist, Orlando, Fla.

Campus Celebrates Legacy of MLK with Kenn Elmore

To celebrate the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, more than 100 members of the medical campus community gathered in the Hiebert Lounge on Thursday, Jan. 20, to hear BU’s Associate Provost and Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore, JD.

The event opened with audio of Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Elmore began by sharing that his speech was going to be very personal. “I never would have dreamed to be in a position where I get to honor Dr. King. That is something in which my parents take incredible pride.” noted. He explained that his mother was brought to tears when she found out he would be speaking about MLK because “a lot of people fought very hard” to give him such an incredible opportunity.

His remarks, “On the Way We Go: Chaos or Community?" were based on a book by King with a similar title, Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? “I’m one of those people who thinks a little chaos and a little community can do well by us now,” he confessed. Elmore noted that King felt “Power without love is reckless and abusive; and love without power is sentimental and anemic.” He explained that this sentiment might characterize our national climate over the past few years – including issues such as war, underprivileged schools, lack of the middle class, etc. After the tragic 2016 shootings in Dallas, Elmore reached the crossroad of chaos and community. He reengaged with people in different ways and reevaluated what his “bubbles” were.

He reflected on his past and shared the refrain of a church song from his youth that especially spoke to him, “Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me around…I’m gonna keep on walking, keep on talking, marching up to freedom land.” The song was part of his youth and was sung to by his congregation to members when they were about to take a significant step in their lives. It was sung to Elmore when he left for college and it stuck with him. The song reminded him of the freedom riders of the civil rights movement, and he realized he could not live ahistorically. When he “saw with history in mind,” he saw all the people that tried to help move the country forward.

Elmore’s speech was followed by a musical interlude with Margaret Lee, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Dermatology, and Moisès Fernández Via, Founding Director of Arts | Lab @ Med Campus, and an energetic town hall discussion. Along with Elmore, Associate Dean of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs Rafael Ortega, MD, and Jonathan Woodson, Faculty Director at the BU Institute for Health System Innovation, facilitated a discussion that allowed the community to voice their concerns and questions. The event provided support and reflection on the eve of Inauguration Day.

To view more photos from the event, visit our Facebook album.

The event was sponsored by BUSM Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs in collaboration with the BMC Human Resources Department, Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine Office of Diversity, BU School of Public Health and the BMC Minority Recruitment Program. To view the event, click here. For optimal viewing, please view in Firefox, Chrome, or Safari browsers.