Logan Elmore spent about eight months during the last academic year getting to know an elderly Alachua County couple and engaging them in their community.
She and three other UF medical students met with the couple four times as part of UF Health’s Putting Families First program, which aims to benefit local families by pairing them with students. During the meetings, students work toward a health-improvement project to benefit the family.
On Sept. 19, the program was one of four to receive the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation Award for Excellence in Social Mission in Health Professions Education. The award honors groups that educate health professionals by including initiatives that engage students in the community and reduce health disparities.
The program, offered to first-year students from all six of UF’s Health Science Center colleges, was awarded $2,000, said Amy Blue, the leader of the program. It hopes to put the money toward a small grant program to help students better meet the needs of the families they work with.
During the program, faculty members lead six in-class sessions about health literacy, cultural differences in perceiving and accessing health care and how socioeconomic status can affect health, said Dr. Venita Sposetti, the College of Dentistry’s associate dean for education.
Elmore, a second-year veterinary medicine student, said when she and her peers met the couple, who were in their 50s or 60s, in Fall, they decided the two needed to get out more.
So, for their health improvement project, they created an extensive calendar of UF and local community events for them to attend, the 23-year-old said.
Elmore said the program is beneficial for both families and students. She said she’s excited to see what the program does for both in the future.
“It just continues to grow in its dynamic of what families are involved and how long the course is and what they expect of the students,” she said. “I’m sure they’ll keep evolving and changing as time goes on, so I think it’s very well-deserved for this course to be presented this award.”
