Medical Schools Win Grants for Community MH Projects
Nine medical students, three of whom are now physicians, have been awarded Helping Hands Grants in the last three years from the American Psychiatric Foundation. Posters describing the community mental health projects for which they won the awards were presented at APA's Institute on Psychiatric Services last month in Chicago.
Medical students and physicians representing medical schools that received Helping Hands Grants from the American Psychiatric Foundation are pictured above with APA Medical Director James H. Scully Jr., M.D. (center in back), at APA's 2008 Institute on Psychiatric Services last month in Chicago. From left: Michael Homer of Tufts University School of Medicine; Sarah Roberts, M.D., representing Michigan State University–Upper Peninsula College of Human Medicine; Yasmin Owusu of Baylor College of Medicine; Danielle Baek of SUNY Downstate College of Medicine; Michelle Durham and Steven Starks of Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center; Steve Burgess of Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at Amarillo; and Elizabeth Streicker of SUNY Downstate College of Medicine.
Credit: Ellen Dallager
The Helping Hands Grant program, established by the American Psychiatric Foundation with funding from Otsuka America Pharmaceutical Inc., encourages medical students to create and participate in community mental health projects, especially those focusing on underserved populations. The program seeks to raise awareness of mental illness and the importance of early recognition and treatment; it also seeks to stimulate interest among medical students in psychiatry and in working with the underserved.
The presentations took place at a special evening session,“ Conversations,” sponsored by the foundation, at which author Terrie Williams also spoke about her book, Black Pain.
Medical schools that apply for the grants can receive up to $5,000 depending on the budgetary needs of their respective grant proposals. The seven schools that presented at the institute were Baylor College of Medicine, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, Michigan State University–Upper Peninsula College of Human Medicine, SUNY Downstate College of Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at Amarillo, Tufts University School of Medicine, and Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
The projects and student presenters are as follows:
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Baylor College of Medicine: Students used a portable, handheld computer module loaded with a screening instrument—the Shedler Quick Psycho-Diagnostics Panel—to screen homeless persons at Houston shelters for a range of mental disorders. Of homeless individuals screened, 68 percent were positive for at least one disorder and were referred to a follow-up clinic in the public health system for further workup. Follow-up at three months showed that 46 percent of those referred for followup care had used the referral services. The presenter was Yasmin Owusu.
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Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center: Students developed a program to augment medical-student-run clinics for the homeless in New Orleans by training medical students to include a mental health screening in their patient assessments. A mental health screening questionnaire was added to each patient's chart; patients for whom there were significant findings on the screening completed the appropriate module of the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview. Patients who were then found to need further mental health evaluation were referred to county-supported, private, or LSU-affiliated outpatient mental health centers. The presenters were Michelle Durham and Steven Starks.
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Michigan State University–Upper Peninsula College of Human Medicine: The Upper Peninsula Maternal Emotional Support Program was developed to provide outreach, educational, and screening programs for new mothers in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. An inpatient screening program for postpartum depression (PPD) risk assessment was developed to identify at-risk new mothers and to facilitate an interventional protocol for each high- and intermediate-risk mother. A PPD provider network for the region was also created. The presenter was Sarah Roberts, M.D., now a physician with the Alaska Family Medicine Residency Program.
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SUNY Downstate College of Medicine: Using standardized screening tools, students screened homeless individuals from two Brooklyn, N.Y., homeless shelters for generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder. The project helped develop a strong relationship between the shelters and SUNY Downstate Medical Center, allowing students to continue screening residents at the shelters. The presenters were Danielle Baek and Elizabeth Streicker.
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Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at Amarillo: The five-item Geriatric Depression Scale was used to screen approximately 150 elderly patients for depression at community health fairs in both rural and metropolitan areas of the Texas panhandle region. Thirteen individuals screened positive for depression; more than 23 percent of screening subjects had never been screened for depression before. Presenting was Steve Burgess, M.D., now a physician in the Texas Tech residency program.
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Tufts University School of Medicine: The “Ready to Feel Better” campaign is a wide-ranging mental health promotion effort aimed at encouraging awareness of mental health issues specific to the Pan-Asian community of Boston. The campaign made use of posters, flyers, handouts, screening cards, and pins that were distributed throughout the community, as well as community presentations on mental health subjects and advertisements and articles in community newspapers. The presenter was Michael Homer.
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Vanderbilt University School of Medicine: Students developed a mental health awareness curriculum for women prisoners in Davidson County Correctional Development Center. The curriculum consisted of workbooks and lessons based on the principles of hope, personal responsibility, education, self-advocacy, and support. A library of literature on mental health topics is also being created to supplement the curriculum. Heather Burks, M.D., now a physician, submitted the poster for the institute presentation. ▪
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Published online: 21 November 2008
Published in print: November 21, 2008
Notes
The Helping Hands Grant seeks to raise awareness of mental illness and the importance of early recognition and treatment and to stimulate interest among medical students in psychiatry and in working with the underserved.
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