EDAC PROPOSES A CHALLENGE
The pandemic and massive social justice movement in America coincided this summer in a major way, and as members of EDAC (Equity Diversity Advancement Committee) on the UNE COM Biddeford Campus, we felt compelled to take action that would create change in our campus culture. To undertake an endeavor of this magnitude, EDAC leadership met with the Student Government Association (SGA) to discuss how COM could initiate conversations about inequities in health. In order to affect the most impact, EDAC and SGA then utilized the greatest network of students, COM clubs and organizations, to open the discussion of social justice in healthcare to over 40 presidents of clubs and organizations, who then might continue the conversation to the majority of first and second-year students who participate in clubs and organizations prior to their clerkship year. By speaking with UNE COM’s clubs and organizations, we were able to talk to student leaders, who continuously plan and execute programming throughout each academic year, in hopes to enrich the undergraduate medical education in a myriad of ways. Acknowledging the pervasiveness, applicability, and relevance of social justice topics to all facets and specialties of medicine, SGA and EDAC implored these clubs and organizations to brainstorm and host at least one event or initiative, for the current academic year, which addresses inequities of healthcare and social determinants of health.
Hina Hashmi, COM ‘23
I appreciate the C&O leadership offering the space for EDAC to involve our community in such a vital conversation. EDAC introduced students to aspects of health inequity, particularly involving race, and challenged us to discover and begin to unlearn our own biases. In the curriculum, we are rarely offered opportunities to have discussions around social justice, ethics, and race in healthcare, so to be able to hear my peers engaging and actively thinking through the sample cases was powerful. As evidenced by the amount of students who came together amidst a pandemic for a silent BLM protest hosted by EDAC in the summer, we know that racism is an issue important to our medical school community.
Hannah Stein, COM ‘23
This presentation was informative, necessary, and even somewhat uncomfortable. Members of EDAC and SGA created a safe environment for medical students and E-board members to explore their experiences and understanding of racism, to uncover their discomfort when discussing racism. We were provided terminology pertinent to racism (e.g. implicit bias, anti-racism) and then split into groups to discuss patient cases with other classmates covering important social factors that can affect patient care. These uncomfortable conversations are an important step forward in, hopefully, eradicating racism, especially within healthcare.
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