Med Students Step Up to Help Health Care Professionals
70 students at UArizona Health Sciences are helping medical professionals during the COVID-19 crisis by volunteering to provide household services
Third-year medical student Ashwini Kaveti is one of six students who are coordinating 70 students to provide household volunteer services for health care professionals.
When College of Medicine — Tucson student Darien Stratton heard about students volunteering to help medical professionals in areas of the country hit hard by COVID-19, the University of Arizona was still on spring break. Local schools, preschools and businesses remained open, and social distancing was just entering the lexicon.
Third-year medical student Kacy Gilbert-Gard provides child care to medical professionals during the coronavirus pandemic when schools and child care centers are closed, and health care professionals are working.
Stratton, a fourth-year medical student, decided to follow the lead of her peers around the country before Tucson began feeling a strain. She posted an online signup sheet and asked her fellow medical students if they were willing to help health care workers with child care, pet care, grocery shopping and meal preparation.
Now 70 University of Arizona Health Sciences students are volunteering, and six have joined Stratton in coordinating the effort. Child care is by far the greatest need. The students who are caring for children haven’t interacted with patients within 14 days, said Stratton.
“The student volunteers have really stepped up. This has truly been a team effort, and I am so proud to be a MedCat right now,” said Stratton, who plans to graduate in May and begin a residency in emergency medicine.
Ashwini Kaveti, a third-year student, is both coordinating and volunteering. This would be a frustrating time for Kaveti if she felt she couldn’t be of service.
“A big part of why we even wanted to be in medical school is because of our passion to serve our community. This way, students can help support our providers by taking away the stress of figuring out how to complete these tasks they previously were able to attend to,” she said.
Fourth-year medical student Darien Stratton is helping coordinate student volunteers to assist health care professionals who are working during the global pandemic.
The medical community has been appreciative, said Kaveti. The professionals the student group has helped have expressed gratitude for the ability to focus on their jobs without also finding alternative arrangements for child and pet care. Meals are also more difficult to purchase because the hospital cafeteria is closed.
Faculty in the College of Medicine — Tucson have supported the students’ efforts and helped spread the word about the initiative, said Stratton.
“At a time of great uncertainty and stress, it has been a source of great comfort to me hearing about the amazing students we are lucky enough to have here at the College of Medicine — Tucson. I’m inspired and buoyed by their efforts and am so proud to be their colleague,” said assistant professor of internal medicine Indu S. Partha, MD.
“This is only the beginning of what this group of students will accomplish,” said Richard Amini, MD, professor and assistant dean of student affairs for the college. “During the most difficult of times, kindness and support carries great value. I’m honored to be a part of the same community, a community that worries equally about others as themselves.”