Students at the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM) may have faced an uphill battle in continuing their education amidst the COVID-19 pandemic during the 2020-21 academic year, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t make time to give back to the communities that help inspire them.
Students at the school completed more than 6,000 hours of community service activities — or T.O.U.C.H. (Translating Osteopathic Understanding Into Community Health) hours — throughout the academic year. The T.O.U.C.H. program is a national initiative of the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine’s Council of Osteopathic Student Government Presidents with the goal of encouraging students to engage in volunteer service throughout their communities.
Through the T.O.U.C.H. program, osteopathic medical students complete approved events in the community and submit their hours to a national database. Recognition at different levels is given to students who achieve 50 hours, 100 hours or the most hours at a given school in an academic year.
Belinda Evans, WVSOM’s director of student life, said students at the medical school showed selflessness by rising to the occasion during a difficult time.
“We’re so used to seeing students all over campus, but this academic year has included challenges for all of us,” she said. “Our students faced those obstacles and made a lasting impact on their learning as well as showing their commitment to community service.”
As an example, Evans said, the Community Relations Committee of WVSOM’s Student Government Association handcrafted more than 500 cards that were distributed in honor of National Letter to an Elder Day in February.
Since the start of 2021, the WVSOM student chapter of DOCare International sponsored a feminine hygiene drive for the Lewisburg-based Family Refuge Center, a domestic violence shelter, and the student chapter of the National Osteopathic Women Physicians Association raised $250 for the center through a domestic violence awareness lapel pin sale. Last month, the center awarded Evans its annual Beacon of Hope award in the medical category, on behalf of WVSOM student organizations.
Additionally, the student chapter of the American Osteopathic Academy of Sports Medicine sponsored a March Madness bracket event that brought in $300 to benefit Central Greenbrier Little League.
Last fall, the WVSOM Pride Alliance sold LGBTQ+ pride and Black Lives Matter lapel pins, raising $450 for the Appalachian Community Fund, a nonprofit organization that provides support to grassroots organizations working to overcome the underlying causes of poverty and injustice in central Appalachia, Evans said.
As WVSOM’s T.O.U.C.H. coordinator for the 2020-21 academic year, second-year student Marion White helped students connect with local organizations that needed assistance. She said being a physician requires knowing the community in which you practice, and that students made a strong effort to do so this year, both through health care-related activities like helping to administer COVID-19 vaccines and through nonmedical activities like volunteering at food pantries or at the demonstration garden at the Clingman Center for Community Engagement.
At times, the realities of the pandemic required getting creative and modifying existing activities, White said.
“For example, one of our biggest projects is Communities in Schools, where medical students visit area elementary schools to serve as mentors and tutors,” she said. “This year we weren’t able to do it exactly like we used to, but we were able to help virtually, and that made a difference to students who couldn’t go to school. Through technology we were able to reach kids and help keep them on track with their school work. I’m proud that we were resilient and found ways to help the community despite the pandemic.”