Community Outreach & Advocacy 

As a residency we re-examine our efforts and opportunities for community outreach every 2 years. In our most recent iteration, we have 3 main domains of focus. Each group is led by a resident and faculty champion: this structure allows residents to get involved with community organizations, while faculty serve as a point of support and continuity. Residents have an opportunity to pursue leadership, while maintaining balance with clinical obligations and community engagement, while faculty provide structured continuity in strengthening our community relationships.   

LGBTQI+ HEALTH COMMUNITY MEDICINE GROUP 

Faculty champions: Kevin Wang, MD & Peter Kuhn, MD  

The LGBTQI Health group aims to improve access and quality of healthcare for LGBTQI+ communities through partnership, service, and education. We also work to continue to foster, expand, and strengthen both new and existing relationships with local, national, and international LGBTQI+ advocacy and support organizations. We are currently partnered with Camp Ten Trees (https://camptentrees.org,) Lambert House (http://www.lamberthouse.org) , and Entre Hermanos (https://entrehermanos.org) .  

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REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE COMMUNITY MEDICINE GROUP 

Faculty champions: Claire Thomson, MD & Minoo D'Cruz, MD 

Resident Leads: Bella Stokes, Fatema Shipchandler, Sarah Hemphill, Tara Ahmadi The Reproductive Justice group aims to support the human rights of reproductive justice as defined by SisterSong, i.e. to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities. Residents in in the Reproductive Justice group will work with our community partner, Global Perinatal Services, a local non-profit with a mission to provide doula services that educate, respect and empower black, refugee and immigrant families. In addition, this community medicine group serves as a space for residents to educate and support each other on ways to be better advocates for reproductive justice locally and nationally.

HEALTH ACCESS AND OUTREACH COMMUNITY MEDICINE GROUP 

Faculty champions: Viet Nguyen, MD & Carrie Rubenstein, MD 

Resident Leads: Claire Miller, Odette Zero, Tara Ahmadi  

The goal of our group is to improve healthcare access through screening and outreach opportunities (health fairs) and partnerships engaged with providing wrap-around services to the community and organizations fighting housing instability and insecurity. We have been engaged in partnership with Blake House, Tiny House Builds, Mary's Place, BHCCP screening outreach, and community health fairs through Swedish-Providence. 

  • Doctor for a Day and Pipeline Work: Partnership with UW SOM Center for Health Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion to provide outreach to youth of color in the Seattle area. Our is goal is to eventually work with local school(s) to build a summer shadowing program with our residents and faculty.  

  • Community Health Boards: Involvement in several community health boards such as the Ethiopian (https://www.ecseattle.org) and Somali (https://somalihealthboard.org) Health Boards to further advocate for our immigrant patients, including organizing annual health fairs for these communities.  

  • UW School of Medicine Free Clinics: Partnership with UW SOM to provide educational opportunities for residents to work closely with medical students and provide medical care for low-access communities around the Seattle area. 

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