Service and Engagement

Underserved Pathway students must complete 24 hours total of community service or service learning activities, an average of two hours per quarter. Depending on the type of service activities, students may complete the bulk of their hours in the preclinical years, or they may spread out hours across all four years. Underserved Pathway students may participate in UW and non-UW based programs.

Service and service learning opportunities include clinical events that involve direct patient care, educational events to train students, outreach events that provide health education for patients or communities, fundraising events and advocacy events.

The service learning requirement is meant to get students into underserved communities, engaged with them, seeing first hand the health challenges faced by vulnerable populations, learning about partnership within these communities and the agencies that serve them, and providing needed service. It also includes the reflection about what you have learned.

See below for a partial list of UW service learning options. Please see the iServ calendar (coming soon) to sign up for events. To explore non-UW community service projects consider looking into the United Way.

You can track your community service hours by using your Pathway Tracker database to update your hours and experiences.

Some examples of UW-related service opportunities:

UW-Based Community Service Options

Clinical – includes experiences where you will be providing clinical care to underserved populations.

-CHAP Derm Clinic, CHAP Foot Care Clinic and CHAP Sports Medicine Clinic
-Students in the Community (SITC) Aloha Clinic
-Al-Shifa Health Resource Center
-Swedish Medical Center at Cherry Hill

Outreach and Advocacy – includes Health Fairs, school health education, mentoring and tutoring the underserved.

-CHAP Youth Mentoring and Health Education
-CHAP Orion Health Education and Tutoring for Homeless Youth

Leadership and Administration: includes organizing, developing and running a clinic or project.
-Serving as a CHAP Coordinator
-Active participation in a community or UW organization that is actively involved with the greater community (e.g. Health Equity Circle)

For the Community Health Advancement Program (CHAP), contact:
Rachel Lazzar, CHAP Program Coordinator
206-543-9425
rlazzar@u.washington.edu

For Students in the Community (SITC), contact:
uwsitc@u.washington.edu
206-616-5539

For Al-Shifa, contact:
Website: http://www.alshifaclinic.org/
For general questions, email: alshifa@u.washington.edu

Talk to your UP advisor about other outreach, leadership, advocacy and clinical opportunities. UP students may participate in UW-based or non-UW-based programs.

A recommended resource to explore non UW-Based community service projects is the United Way.