For a while, Ohio State University College of Medicine sophomore Nicolette Le had a phrase taped to her wall: “Tuesday nights, we are alone.”
These words of appreciation came from an inmate of the Ohio Reformatory for Women (ORW) and member of House Call, an initiative under OSU’s chapter of Physicians for Human Rights, a student-led organization in the College of Medicine dedicated to at work. of fostering a community of future health professionals working to end human rights abuses.
On Tuesday evenings each month, from fall through spring, OSU inmates and medical students — some in person, some via Zoom — gather for a House Call Conference, featuring and an educational component to address health issues such as nutrition or women’s health. health through lectures, demonstrations and activities, as well as time directed to the community for reflection and self-expression through activities such as poetry and the sharing of personal experiences, goals and understanding.
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While the women receive an important health education, the benefit of the program is intended to go both ways as the medical students stretch their communication skills and expand their experience of connecting with people incarcerated in the field. medicines.
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“House Call was created with the aim of improving the health outcomes of incarcerated women, but also provides a platform for them to express their experience and for medical students to understand experiences and perspectives that go beyond medicine, biomedicine and care of health,” Le, who is the leader of the House Call project, said.
Whitney Elkins is an ORW inmate and a team member from last year’s convention. Despite coming from a family with an extensive medical background (he says he even grew up analyzing the color and consistency of his nose when he had a cold as a child), he said House Call was and a refreshing way to learn about him. physical health.
Elkins said: “The medical conditions that I’ve had throughout my life that we were talking about were presented to me in a way that no doctor had ever explained to me before. For example, I have endometriosis and PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) – I’ve had this since I was 12, and I’m 36 – and they tell me things I didn’t know, or that I had never heard of them or that I did not know. and don’t understand that that is the reason why the pain is here.”
In addition to the academic aspect, Elkins has found the act of building community with others at ORW and the students to be important.
“It was a bonding experience, because it brought us all closer together,” Elkins said. know each other. And it was something that could bring us together.”
Elkins, who is involved in many ORW organizations and activities and enrolled in classes at Sinclair Community College, said she has found common ground with medical students who share their struggles with isolation and balance. work and self-care and social relationships. together, they identified common goals for their well-being – taking this one step at a time, counting and celebrating small successes.
As House Call prepares to start the project and work again this fall with a new team, Le expressed his appreciation for the space, where inmates and students alike can be seen and heard.
While we are here providing information and providing space, they are also giving us their time and their experiences and their life stories.
“And that’s something that always drives me forward, because being there in person, talking to people, you see how much of an impact you have as a medical student, even if you’re just there to listen people.”
elim@dispatch.com
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