Mt. Carmel Outreach Van
The experience students gain volunteering on the Mt. Carmel Family Practice Outreach Van is the hallmark of our Community Outreach. It is essentially a Winnebago with two complete exam rooms, a small pharmacy, and a surprising amount of medical equipment. One or two evenings each week, two students board the van at one of the local homeless shelters, take patient histories, perform physical exams and are intricately involved in the management of the patients’ health care while on the van. The van is staffed by volunteer doctors and nurses and other staff of Mt. Carmel Family Practice, and it travels throughout our city providing medical care to our more transient population.

Students meet the van at one of three places, the YMCA, the YWCA, and Friends of the Homeless. Patients are initially triaged by nurses stationed in the shelters and are then sent out to the van as space permits. At this point, the medical student is the patient’s first contact for the patient interview. The student continues with patient care, presenting to the doctor or nurse, seeing the patient with the doctor or nurse and then discussing the assessment and plan. The staff on the van is very friendly, extremely helpful and eager to teach, giving the students a comfortable environment in which not only to volunteer but also learn a significant amount about clinical skills, medicine and greater social issues. Students also learn a great deal from their patients. The patients present with many unique problems and histories, both medical and social, a medical student may not see in most other settings.

Habitat for Humanity
Third and fourth-year medical students in the Family Medicine Leadership Development Program team up with the Central Ohio Academy of Family Physicians to build homes in Columbus with Habitat for Humanity. In addition to helping our community, this program offers invaluable networking with local Family Physicians!

Physicians Free Clinic
Third and fourth-year medical students have the opportunity to volunteer at the Physicians Free Clinic. This clinic is housed in the Columbus Health Department, and provides free, walk-in care for patients one evening each week. Students are paired with Family Physicians who are faculty at local residency programs. Each student is given his or her own room in which to see patients. Students fuction as interns, seeing patients independently and then precepting with the faculty. Students have the ability to help the underserved community and work on their doctoring skills at the same time, all the while building valuable leadership skills.

Donations to Local Charities
Students in the Family Medicine Leadership Development Program bring donations to each meeting to donate to local charities. Items collected this year include school supplies, canned foods, toiletries, and children's toys. Remember to bring your donations to the next meeting!

On Call Creations
On Call Creations has been accepted as a community service committee under FMIG. On Call Creations meets several times per month to knit and crochet newborn hats and booties to donate to Ohio hospitals. Eileen Mehl, the Program Director for the Office of Medical Education, has been graciously lending her expert knitting skills to teach new knitters the basics and more experienced knitters new techniques. If you’ve never touched a pair of knitting needles or if you have unfinished projects sitting around, watch for e-mails regarding dates and join On Call Creations in the Meiling Student Lounge. Yarn, needles, and snacks are provided.

Tar Wars
Tar Wars is a hands-on tobacco education presentation for fourth and fifth graders. Instead of the traditional scare tactics and lecturing, Tar Wars helps the students learn to think independently and critically about the tobacco industry. They look at term effects of tobacco, manipulation tactics used by tobacco companies, financial implications of smoking, and realistic statistics on how many people actually smoke. The program was created by the American Academy of Family Physicians, and is implented around the country by volunteers. It requires minimal preparation and only 1 hour of class time to complete. Please contact Laura.Pence@osumc.edu or Ashley.Holland@osumc.edu if you are interested in participating. Check out http://www.tarwars.org.