IPECP Community Engagement

Initiated in 2019 by an interprofessional group of Emory students, this program brings together heath professional students from Emory with students from Mercer University College of Pharmacy, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine, and law and social work students from Georgia State University. AISH is a multi-institutional service-learning program that provides graduate students across various medical and health professions the opportunity to engage directly with high-need, high-cost (HNHC) medical patients. Nationwide, HNHC patients make up only 5% of the patient population, but they account for 50% of healthcare costs.

In Atlanta, student hotspotters aid in addressing socioeconomic and environmental determinants of health for HNHC patients within the Grady Health System (Grady), the city's largest safety-net healthcare system. AISH's goal is to advance interprofessional education among health professionals while simultaneously improving patient care and outcomes for both patients and Grady. AISH combines students from more than eight academic disciplines from five Atlanta-area institutions, providing unparalleled opportunities to train the next generation of interprofessional leaders. Office of IPECP Co-Directors, Drs. Jodie Guest and Beth Ann Swan, serve as faculty sponsors for AISH. You can learn more about AISH You can learn more about AISH here.

The Emory Farmworker Project (EFP) is the Emory University School of Medicine's Physician Assistant Program's hallmark service-learning program. The EFP is a collaboration with the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing and the Rollins School of Public Health. Each June and October, the EFP provides free health care to more than 2,000 farmworkers and their families, a population that plays a key role in Georgia's billion-dollar fruit and vegetable industry but often lacks access to even basic medical care. Its pop-up field clinics meet a critical public health need while giving clinical teams experience in treating a wide range of conditions – everything from health screenings for patients who have never received clinical care to women in labor or workers with serious acute illness. You can learn more about the EFP here.

Led by Dr. Jodie Guest, Rollins Public Health Students spent many hours working on COVID-19 outbreaks across Georgia during the summer of 2020. The team provided free COVID-19 testing to those in communities hardest hit by the epidemic. In addition, they worked with community partners in interprofessional teams to develop education materials to promote PPE use and hygiene. The students in this groups have received invaluable hands-on experience serving vulnerable communities in Georgia while contributing meaningfully to their applied practice experiences. The Outbreak Response Team (ORT) is poised and ready to respond if called upon to help curb outbreaks in other regions of the state. The team is coordinating with Georgia Health Districts to determine the need for active response across the state. For more information, please visit the Emory ORT website.

The Farm Worker Family Health Program is an interprofessional, in-country, cultural immersion service-learning experience. Coordinated by the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing (NHWSON), each summer select undergraduate and graduate students from the NHWSON, the University of Georgia School of Pharmacy, the Georgia State and Brenau University Departments of Physical Therapy, and the Clayton State and Central Georgia Tech College Departments of Dental Hygiene spend two weeks delivering vital health health to farm workers and their children in farming communities in southwest Georgia. The schools partner with The Ellenton Clinic to serve farm workers and their families in Colquitt, Cook, Brooks, and Tift counties. You can learn more about the Farm Worker Family Health Program here.

Health Students Taking Action Together, Inc. is a non-profit, member organization run by health professional students in Georgia. HealthSTAT seeks to make being active in the health community a professional habit. By helping students and health professionals see advocacy as a continuum that links education and service to policy, the organization helps facilitate the development of a new cohort of health leaders. For more information, visit the HealthSTAT website.

Health Students Taking Action Together, Inc. is a non-profit, member organization run by health professional students in Georgia. HealthSTAT seeks to make being active in the health community a professional habit. By helping students and health professionals see advocacy as a continuum that links education and service to policy, the organization helps facilitate the development of a new cohort of health leaders. For more information, visit the HealthSTAT website.