Medical Students and Community Benefit from Day of Service – UB Now: News and Insights for UB Faculty and Staff

Bernard Okai’s mission for UB Medical Students’ Day of Service was close and dear to his heart.

Okai and other first-year medical students at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences helped make beds for Sleep in Heavenly Peace, a non-profit organization in Clarence that builds and provides beds and bedding. for Buffalo families in need.

Okai can understand.

“I didn’t have a bed when I was a kid,” said Okai, who grew up in the West African nation of Ghana and arrived in the United States in 2016 when his family moved to Rochester. “I had to sleep on the floor with my cousins ​​in a small space.”

While medical students don’t choose their day of duty assignments, Okai, who received his undergraduate degree in biochemistry from SUNY Brockport, was happy to be where he did.

“I connect with this personally,” he said. “I know how it feels to grow up without a bed. Volunteering here and helping others feels good.

Okai was among a record 132 students who helped improve the community and got to know their classmates on the seventh annual UB Medical Student Day of Service on July 31. Most were freshmen, the rest in the upper class. Eight teachers and staff also participated.

Salma Attai, a sophomore medical student and one of the guidance officers, was one of the volunteers at Pelion Community Garden at City Honors School in Buffalo.

Site volunteers removed pests and weeds, picked fruit and spread mulch, among other gardening maintenance tasks.

She took advantage of the day to get to know some of the new students better before their official orientation.

“I bonded with some of the new students. I’m really passionate about mentoring, being a first generation student and a graduate student, ”said Attai, who received her undergraduate degree in Biomedical Sciences from UB. “Being able to light someone else’s path is truly rewarding for me.”

Last year’s day of duty did not take place due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so she welcomed her return.

“It’s nice to be outside with other people on such a beautiful day,” she said. “The opportunity to spend a Saturday serving a community that I love and have given me so much is also incredibly rewarding.”

“It was a great experience. I’m meeting pretty much all of these people for the first time. It was a great way to bond, ”said Cameron DeMott, freshman, who received his bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from the University of Rochester. He spent the morning weeding, removing unwanted insects from trees and bushes, and picking elderberries at the Pelion Community Garden.

“The vast majority of students chose to participate today,” DeMott said. “I’m glad to see that a lot of people took advantage of it.

Freshman Michelle Qiu agreed.

“It’s really fun. I’ve never built anything before, so it’s a new experience for me,” said Qiu, who spent the day building beds at Sleep in Heavenly Peace.

“I’ve never met any of my new classmates before,” said Qiu, who also received her undergraduate degree in neuroscience from the University of Rochester. “It’s definitely a good bonding experience.”

In addition to Sleep in Heavenly Peace and Pelion Community Gardens, volunteers performed cleanup work at four service project sites in Buffalo: Allentown Association, where students weeded and applied mulch; Fruit Belt Coalition, where students organized offices and garden; Kevin Guest House, where the students garden; and the Macedonian Baptist Church, where students beautified the building and garden.

Attendance at Medical Student Day of Service is not mandatory, but Jacobs School medical students are required to complete 10 hours of community service – a combination of volunteer work and service learning – during each of their preclinical years.

“During their time as medical students for the next four years, there are many ways to get to know their Buffalo community and make a difference in the lives of the people they will serve,” said David A. Milling, Senior Associate Dean for Students. and academic affairs. “We have 180 extremely talented medical students who need to understand and respond to the social needs of the community, which will ultimately help them become better physicians.”

The UB Medical Student Day of Service is sponsored by the Offices of Medical Education and the John A. Wendel Endowment Fund, established by Virginia Wendel.