After spending last year evaluating candidates for open positions in the Medical Center and helping the administration review the School of Medicine's unique curriculum, the Davison Council, the medical school's student government, is bringing its focus back to community service.
To kick off this year, the Davison Council organized Duke in Durham, a School of Medicine day of service that sent about 70 medical student volunteers into the communities of Durham Aug. 31. The students performed different forms of community service at places like the Durham public schools, the Ronald McDonald House, Durham nursing homes, Eno River State Park, Durham Rescue Mission and Adopt-a-Highway.
"This year, we are providing an opportunity for medical students to give back to a community we take so much from," said Davison Council Secretary Julius Wilder, who devised the idea of Duke in Durham.
Pleased with the success of the program, Wilder and Davison Council Service Vice President Marie Clark said they are now planning a corresponding spring service day.
Wilder said Duke in Durham provided an opportunity for medical students to have a positive and significant impact on the Durham community. "This was a great event and we intend to make it a tradition to be followed for many years to come," he said.
Clark stressed the educational importance of being involved with the community for medical students.
"Everyone really got a chance to participate and to see what it's like to work with such groups. Hopefully in the spring, even more medical students will have the opportunity to learn what's really out there," she said.
Davison Council President Ali Raja agreed with the need for student commitment to society.
"Medicine is a service profession, and we feel that by helping the community we can better prepare ourselves to be the physicians of tomorrow," Raja said.
The Davison Council will also be donating each month of the remainder of the school year to a different cause, including an upcoming Adopt-a-Highway event Oct. 26, and in November, a concentrated effort toward Durham public schools. Future themes for the following months have not yet been determined.
The Davison Council comprises all members of the medical student body, each paying $50 per year in dues to fund various activities and organizations such as the American Medical Student Association, the North Carolina Medical Society, the North Carolina Student Rural Health Coalition and Alpha Omega Alpha, the medical honor society.
In addition to the Davison Council's efforts, the Student National Medical Association, of which Wilder is co-president, is organizing a Tissue Organ and Donor Education Recruitment Program, which intends to teach minorities in the community about tissue and organ donation. The SNMA is also facilitating a program to work with minority high school students in hopes of sparking their interest in careers within science.
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