Students—Community Service Project

The RMED program requires all students to complete a community service project. This assignment enables students to learn how specific health problems can be approached on a community-wide basis. All projects reflect a suspected community health need.

Each April, an RMED student is invited to present his or her award-winning project at the Annual Conference of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine. The Department of Family Medicine provides financial support for the winner to attend the conference.

The 2002 winner, Keith Johnson MD, ’02, spearheaded efforts to finance and install 22 defibrillators — worth $75,000 — in several western New York schools. In small rural communities, schools are prime locations for defibrillators because community groups gather there and because heart emergencies often involve student athletes. “Keith’s project is by far the most involved in terms of the number of organizations he had to work with to get this going, as well as the long-term impact it will have on the community,” says Peter Beatty PhD, RMED associate director.