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School of Medicine
Service to the State
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HSTA (Health Sciences & Technology Academy)
HSTA provides intensive academic enrichment emphasizing science and math for students from 9th through 12th grade, including laboratory experiences where students work with scientists and clinicians.
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MUSHROOM (Multidisciplinary Unsheltered Homeless Relief Outreach of Morgantown)
Beginning in May 2005, Family Medicine Interest Group (FMIG) embarked on a community outreach program to the unsheltered homeless in the greater Morgantown community. Modeled after the "Operation Safety Net" program in Pittsburgh, our FMIG program is affectionately known as MUSHROOM - Multidisciplinary UnSheltered Homeless Relief Outreach of Morgantown.
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(N-o-t) Not-on-Tobacco
The N-O-T (Not on Tobacco) program is designed to build adolescent self-esteem and intervene in adolescent smoking. This program started in West Virginia and is now in 48 states (and used by the military for dependents internationally). The American Lung Association Website lists it as an exemplary program.
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OHSR (Office of Health Services Research)
The Office of Health Services Research, in partnership with the West Virginia Bureau for Public Health, works with primary care sites state-wide to help improve the quality of care provided to patients with chronic disease. This is a two-fold effort, comprised of 1) support in use of electronic systems to monitor and target care and 2) best practices education on chronic disease prevention and management. A map of supported sites is available at: http://www.hsc.wvu.edu/som/cmed/ohsr/maps/OHSR_WV.aspx
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Wheeling Walks
“Wheeling Walks” and other community-based marketing efforts aim to increase physical activity. These West Virginia campaigns made national news, have been replicated in other states, and prompted US News and World Report to acknowledge a Community Medicine faculty member as “one of the ten best minds in America.”
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WVRHEP (West Virginia Rural Health Education Partnerships)
The mission of the West Virginia Rural Health Education Partnerships is to achieve greater retention of West Virginia trained health science graduates in underserved rural West Virginia communities by creating partnerships of community, higher education, health care providers, and governmental bodies.
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WV Walks
WV WALKS is a unique walking campaign conducted on the air waves, in the print media, in the streets, and on the walking trails of north-central West Virginia. It is a project that has been developed by the Monongalia County Health Department and West Virginia University to promote increased walking and reduce the burden of overweight, heart disease, and diabetes in north-central West Virginia. A sedentary lifestyle, along with poor diet, causes as many deaths as tobacco.
Our community is our entire state
As the state’s land-grant university, WVU has a social responsibility to the entire state of West Virginia. In the School of Medicine, we have the social and political will to be involved in the health and wellbeing of every citizen of the state. We made a conscious decision, more than a decade ago, to broaden our commitment to this responsibility, and to mobilize our students, our faculty and our resources in service to our state.
Our preference is to act, not just talk.
But we do not act alone. The School of Medicine understands the importance of community ownership, shared decision making, and the power of community volunteers in meeting the needs of the people of West Virginia through community service.
A statewide approach presents a number of issues. Students and faculty must be physically present for extended periods in places at great distances from our campus in order to have a real impact on the health of the people who live in these areas. At the same time, we expect our students to meet and exceed the academic and clinical standards of our curriculum. Our three campuses – in Morgantown, Charleston and Martinsburg – and WVU’s wide network of rural health training sites and adjunct faculty help us bring our work to all parts of the state.
West Virginia's health issues set our priorities
West Virginia has long suffered from disparities in disease, injury, health behaviors and health status. Underserved populations in rural areas, and poor or elderly citizens in every community, often are alienated from the health care system or find it difficult to approach.
There are special needs in the state’s vast rural areas: access to care, transportation, isolation and shortages of health professionals.
All of our community service initiatives are organized either to provide direct support to people impacted by one or another of these health disparities, or to empower people and communities to achieve lasting changes that will reduce or eradicate these health issues.
Our mission to serve is woven into the fiber of our culture
WVU realizes that its commitment to service will not succeed, and will not endure, unless it is an essential part of our daily life as an institution. Community and rural service is a part of every student's curriculum. We have found that this not only strengthens our ties to the communities we serve, but exposes students to opportunities they may never have considered.
The School of Medicine’s efforts are coordinated with similar initiatives in the University’s other health professions programs. The statewide Rural Health Education Program provides an infrastructure that allows service projects to be initiated in any part of the state, and for us to gather feedback on their effectiveness.
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