These highlights are from students who have expertly developed and completed advocacy work as part of the semester-long advocacy proponent of the minor. Although our students are in the practice of engaging in patient advocacy, these samples were accomplished through the support and training of this program.
Alyssa DiPaolo and St. Joseph Regional Medical Center Hospital with Dr. Melissa Gillette
Geneticist Shadowing + Developing a Patient Resource for Absence Abductus Spinosus
"[One of my goals] was to create an educational resource for patients regarding absence of the ductus venosus (ADV). When I was picking a topic, Dr. Gillette explained that multiple cases of ADV had come up in the Maternal and Fetal Medicine (MFM) clinic recently, and one mother was upset that the clinic didn’t have patient-friendly resources available regarding this topic. When I was conducting my initial research, I couldn’t find a single patient-friendly resource online, further confirming this mother’s frustration. Every single online resource was filled with scientific jargon and would not be understandable to the average person without an upper-level scientific background. I wanted to address this need by creating a resource regarding ADV that was digestible for patients and families... I was able to create an effective patient-friendly resource that will be used in the clinic in the future. I hope it will be able to give patients and their families some clarity about this difficult diagnosis."
Click here to view the ADV Patient Resource
Rose Enright with Hope, Love, & Grace
Peer Socialization with a client
"Instead of working directly with an organization, I worked with an individual who lives in a group home. My primary goal is to be a good friend. He spent a lot of his life in isolation, especially from his peers. Other goals included keeping the client engaged in his surroundings, providing valuable activities for self-development, increasing his independence and self-confidence, improving social skills, and generalizing the skills he learned during ABA. To resolve his needs, I made a plan with my client's ABA therapist and sat in on one of his ABA sessions. We met twice a week. Though my role in the client life was limited, I believe that I encouraged him to be more independent and to advocate for himself. I especially wanted to teach him that he did not have to use avoidant behaviors in order to not do something. He just had to say that he did not want to do it. I also learned about the ministry of presence. I cannot point to any one big difference I made in this client's life, but I know that I became a person that he can talk to and he can be himself with."
Bailey Perczak and Beacon Memorial NICU
NICU Volunteering and Family Discharge Calls
"There are so many public and private resources in the community and state-wide for families in need, and oftentimes parents may be struggling and aren’t aware of the options that they have. I wanted to find a way to make sure that parents were getting the external resources that they needed, whether that was while they were in the hospital or after they had made their transition home. I was able to reach out to families and speak to parents about their babies, which helped not only to ensure that the newborns were getting the care that they needed, but also to speak to the new parents about their experiences and offer them resources and reassurance as needed. During my volunteering hours at the NICU, I was also able to help with the normal volunteering tasks, including greeting families and checking them in to go visit their baby, and reading to babies to help foster neurological development."