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Commission recognizes Crisis Ministries with Service Learning Award by Heather Woolwine Public Relations One of MUSC’s service learning projects, Crisis Ministries Homeless Shelter Medical Clinic, won the 2005-06 Service Learning Award from the Commission of Higher Education in the category of Public Four-year Institutions. CHE chairman Layton McCurdy, M.D., distributed the awards to winners March 2 at a meeting in Columbia.     “I think they realized what a good cause the Crisis Ministries clinic is and how needed the clinic is at the homeless shelter,” said John Payne, College of Medicine fourth year student and program coordinator. “I believe they were able to see that several groups put a lot of hard work into this program and its impact is clear. I hope that this award will bring greater awareness as to how much work there is to do at the shelter and how much great work is already being done there.”   Members of the Crisis Ministries Clinic and Liz Sheridan (far left), MUSC Gives Back, pose with a plaque honoring their recent Commision of Higher Education award. From left are medical students Trey Ducket, Elizabeth Nunnery, John Payne, Misty Borst, Zeke Walton, and Teddy McRacken. Serving as one of the two coordinators for the last two years, Payne described the student-based clinic as a win-win situation for students eager to learn and for patients interested in getting quality health care. Newer students conduct the initial interview when a patient arrives at the clinic; getting a history and physical assessment, while older students teach them the ins and outs of patient care, interviewing, and other important care processes. The students then present the cases to an attending physician or resident who discusses the case in order to teach the students about various conditions and so on. After this learning step, the attending or resident physician sees the patient and a plan of care is designed to treat the patient or refer them to another location with more treatment options, dependant on the case. “The shelter clinic also provides a unique opportunity for pharmacy residents and students, as they work closely wit the medical students and physicians in determining the best available treatments for patients,” said Aimee McRae, Pharm.D, College of Pharmacy.   Misty Borst, another COM fourth year student and program coordinator, highlighted the clinic’s operation as a benefit to their particular patient population. “Many of these people who are living at the shelter are also working, so it’s not really an option to see a doctor during the daytime hours. By operating the clinic after normal business hours, a lot of our patients can receive quality care instead of forgoing it because it doesn’t fit into their schedules.”   Open from 5 to 9 p.m. every Wednesday, the clinic staff sees patients who have various conditions ranging from alcoholism and HIV/AIDS to those with essentially basic primary care concerns. In addition to the student volunteers, William Simpson, M.D., Family Medicine, McRae, and Andrea Wessell, Pharm.D., serves as the medicine and two pharmacy faculty advisors, respectively.     Liz Sheridan, MUSC Gives Back Student Community Volunteer Program said, “This type of outreach project exemplifies the quality of students that are selected for the colleges and programs at MUSC. As the years pass, they continue to impress me with their willingness to lend their skills and knowledge to provide a direct service with an indirect benefit.”   Since 2001, the Commission on Higher Education annually publicized the service learning and volunteerism efforts of South Carolina colleges and universities. This year’s competition brought 11 nominations, and as in years past, the Selection Committee determined winners in three categories:  public four-year institutions, public two-year institutions, and independent institutions.   Friday, March 24, 2006 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island papers at 849-1778, ext. 201.