Student Volunteerism Extended to the Entire Community
This Einstein SHOUTout! goes to the new COVID-19 Student Response Team and student groups working together to provide a variety of volunteer opportunities in which all members of the Einstein community can take part. The response team leaders—Anna Bitners, Sally Park, Bryan Szeglin and Rachel Weinstock—worked closely with Einstein’s interactive media team to create a volunteer website, which recently launched and provides details of the various endeavors currently underway. It also invites members of the campus community to submit their own initiatives.
![Einstein medical students field calls at Montefiore's Occupational Health Services]()
Einstein medical students field calls at Montefiore's Occupational Health Services
Immediately following the suspension of medical student clinical duties on March 16, students began working vigorously to gather and create personal protective equipment to support healthcare workers on the front lines.
"Since then, we’ve expanded the number of projects,” noted the response team leaders in an email. "Student volunteers are now staffing the Montefiore Occupational Health Services COVID-19 hotline, gathering meal donations for frontline staff, providing babysitting or grocery delivery for healthcare workers, and volunteering on the wards in direct patient care roles.”
Since the beginning of the pandemic, members of the Einstein community have pitched in to help in so many ways—from the dozens of staff, faculty, and postdocs have offered to be redeployed to pitch in at Montefiore, fourth year-medical students have volunteered at Montefiore and Jacobi, students have done wellness checks on high-risk patients via telephone, and M.D./Ph.D. students have helped with the demand for COVID-19 testing.
![Anyone at Einstein can access the volunteer site to learn about opportunities, suggest new initiatives, or request services]()
Anyone at Einstein can access the volunteer site to learn about opportunities, suggest new initiatives, or request services
Although the volunteer opportunities listed on the site are organized by students, any member of the Einstein community can use the site to find a way to help. This includes collecting and delivering PPE, raising money to purchase food for frontline workers, and attending to personal assistance needs like pet sitting or grocery shopping. Only the projects that include telemedicine or e-consults with patients are strictly limited to medical students.
If you have an idea for a new project, the bottom of the site includes a form for suggestions. Check out the volunteer website for more information.
Posted on: Monday, June 08, 2020