USU Student Volunteer Learns While Serving Those In Need
Medical student gains hands-on experience and develops a deeper understanding of the healthcare needs of the homeless
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USU students, including Ensign Heather MacEwan (second from left) volunteer with Bethesda Cares staff after Fall Health Outreach Clinic. (Photo courtesy of ENS Heather MacEwan) |
December 5, 2024 by Vivian Mason
For Navy Ensign Heather MacEwen, volunteering provides a deeper connection to her community than the routine of student life alone can offer.
MacEwen, a second-year medical student at the Uniformed Services University’s (USU) Hebert School of Medicine, is an active volunteer with Bethesda Cares and USU’s Teaching Emergency Aid courses.
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Ensign Heather MacEwan (Photo credit: Tom Balfour, USU) |
homelessness,” says MacEwan. “They’re a part of our community, too, although many people pretend not to see them. Being able to work with people sleeping outside gives me a better understanding and knowledge of the community that I’m a part of.”
Bethesda Cares is a nonprofit community outreach organization serving individuals experiencing homelessness throughout Montgomery County, Maryland. Its services include street outreach, supportive housing, rapid rehousing, meals, clothing, and eviction prevention support. MacEwen first heard about the organization through USU’s Community Health Center Interest Group. She had also worked with people experiencing homelessness before starting medical school and was excited about the opportunity to continue that work.
MacEwan began volunteering at Bethesda Cares in September 2022 for about two hours each month. During that time, she assisted staff during their street outreach, participated in the county-wide Point-in-Time Count (a count of sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness on a single night), and reestablished health outreach clinics.
“I love hearing about clients who receive housing with the help of the organization and how excited they are to have their own place again,” says MacEwan. “I’m so impressed with our team and how dedicated they are to helping the homeless, as well as their passion to serve the community.”
The non-profit trains USU students so that they are able to go out and support the organization by either doing morning outreach with staff and/or performing health assessments on the streets. The students evaluate what kind of health needs their clients have while meeting them where they are.
MacEwan emphasizes that, “The volunteer medical students also have the skills to help during the outreach clinics, and they use their patient medical interviewing skills to talk with individuals and collect information.” Sometimes, however, what can be most helpful to the client is simply taking time to listen, validate, and ask questions about their experiences.
Students often remark that they can lose sight of why they came into medicine when they’re fervently studying textbook fundamentals. Often, the basic sciences are many steps removed from learning how to actually care for patients. Says MacEwen, “Volunteering at Bethesda Cares has helped remind me of the most important skills a doctor needs: careful listening aptitude; compassionate communication; and team-focused, problem-solving abilities.”
MacEwen’s passion for volunteering is just as great for the Teaching Emergency Aid program. This USU student organization aims to share skills and knowledge that empower people to take life-saving action. “We go to high schools or have students come to us. We teach them how to identify life-threatening bleeding and use direct pressure, wound packing, and tourniquet use to stop the bleed,” she notes.
The program teaches three different hemorrhage control courses, ranging from a student-developed virtual lesson to the Instructor Trainer course for the new Red Cross First Aid for Severe Trauma (FAST) training. MacEwen’s taught about 10 or so classes, averaging 15 to 20 students per class. She really enjoys engaging with students about topics she’s passionate about as a military medical student, hopefully encouraging young people in her local community to have an interest in medicine/community health.
“Service is really important to me, and teaching others is a valuable part of that,” says MacEwan. “I feel reenergized when I’m doing it.” Teaching is also an essential aspect of the physician‒patient interaction, and this volunteer activity helps her become a more effective communicator.
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Volunteers with Teaching Emergency Aid helping present Stop the Bleed at a conference in Montreal. (Photo courtesy of ENS Heather MacEwan) |
MacEwan was trained as a priority emergency medical technician, but had never actually put a tourniquet on anyone, since she used this certification to work primarily as a nursing assistant. Attending USU and working with tourniquet and emergency aid skills, she found, prepared her for teaching the emergency aid courses. MacEwen admits that she wouldn’t have felt nearly as comfortable going into a classroom to teach others about these skills if not for her USU background.
Keeping a steady balance between volunteering and medical school is challenging, but medical school comes first for MacEwen. “I didn’t jump into any volunteer activities right out the gate. I wanted to get the first semester of medical school under my belt.”
With no prior military experience and no family in the military, MacEwan decided to come to USU with her desire to become a doctor, her strong sense of service, and her love of giving back to the community. Between college and medical school, MacEwen served as an AmeriCorps member at the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program. For her, USU was a perfect fit.
“I loved all the students I met and the team environment,” MacEwan explains. “I just fell in love with everything the school had to offer.”
Appreciating the accessibility of her volunteer opportunities, MacEwan adds that her work with Bethesda Cares fits perfectly within her school schedule, and actually helps her combat stress. “I can schedule volunteering really far in advance or I can do it after a big exam. It’s a great de-stressing activity. I can increase or decrease my time commitment depending on my exams, studying, or how I’m doing academically.”
When asked what impact she hopes to have on the world, MacEwen replies, “I haven’t fully figured that out yet. I’m definitely interested in community health, but I’m also intrigued with surgery. I want to be involved with community and public health no matter what I end up doing. Already with my volunteering experiences, I’ve learned so much. I’m not only on the road to becoming a better doctor, but also a better person.”
