First Response

Aimed primarily at emergency health events, these initiatives focus on first response. 

• Bystander CPR: Students research our region's difficulties surrounding cardiac arrest and teach Bystander CPR classes in the community.
• Community Stroke Awareness: Students research the regional challenges and teach Stroke Awareness and Response in the community, primarily in geriatric settings.
• Emergency Medical Services (EMS): Medical and Health Professions students will develop an understanding and skillset to care for patients in the prehospital setting. 

Nutrition and Exercise

• Adaptive Gymnastics: Provides adolescents with special physical, developmental and neurological needs with an opportunity to take part in a weekly gymnastics class.
• Choosing Healthy Options for Wellness (CHOW): Students teach nutritious eating and exercise.
• LIFT: Students work with homeless clients over 30-, 60- and 90-day periods teaching nutrition, exercise and life skills.

Health Equity

• Environmental Health: Students research potential environmental sources of illness, such as harmful agents in air, water, food and soil, and propose solutions. 
• HOPES Student Run Free Clinic: Students work in various capacities at this free clinic run by our medical students.
• Medical Educators of Sexual Health (MESH): Trained Medical and Health Professions students deliver comprehensive and developmentally appropriate sexual health education to 13-17 year olds in Hampton Roads.
• Mothers and Baby Mermaids: Students become navigators with young mothers to help them journey through the pregnancy experience.
• Street Health: Students work with Norfolk's Office to End Homelessness to find and conduct initial health screening for the community's unsheltered homeless population.

Older Adults and Individuals with Chronic Illnesses

• Beyond Clinic Walls: Students work with Senior Services of Southeastern Virginia and visit older residents, identifying and responding to their needs.
• Hospice: Students explore the role of interdisciplinary teams in the treatment of hospice patients and Advance Care Planning procedures.

Mental Health

Virginia has a population of approximately 8.3 million people with close to 20% of adults in Virginia having been diagnosed with some type of mental health condition and approximately 5% living with serious mental health conditions such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and/or major depression.

• Beat of My Heart: Students lead music and dance enrichment sessions for patients at the CHKD Cancer and Blood Disorders Center to facilitate human and social connection.
• Health and Justice: Students will learn about the various pathways from criminal justice involvement and the different healthcare services available through pre- and post-release.
• REVIVE!: Students will lead REVIVE! trainings to increase community awareness and readiness as well as lead research projects to better define Hampton Roads opioid’s crisis and barriers to care.

Global Health Equity

Global health inequities are community issues around the world, and these challenges have an impact on Hampton Roads. These initiatives focus on addressing these inequities.

• Medical Spanish: Students work with Spanish-speaking patients and earn a Spanish Bilingual Clinician Certification.
• Refugee Health: Students partner with local resettlement agencies to improve the health of refugees and health-related systems they experience.