USU Student Volunteers Extend Care Beyond Military Medicine
Student volunteers extend upon the university’s motto by “learning to care for those in harm’s way through service in our community”
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Members of USU's Student National Medical Association volunteer at Mount Jezreel Baptist Church's Food Bank Ministry (Photo credit: 2nd Lt. Katherine Lee) |
April 20th, 2023 By Hadiyah Brendel
Students at the Uniformed Services University (USU) are part of a unique social community, one composed of commissioned officers, enlisted service members, and civilian learners. Yet, like all students regardless of where they’re enrolled, when USU students arrive on campus they also become members of their local community. While balancing time between rigorous classes, clinical rotations and exams to volunteer in the community may seem unrealistic, many students at USU do just that.
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2nd Lt. Brandon Hillery volunteers alongside a members of the local community during a Suit Organization Drive for Helping Another Veteran Ensure (H.A.V.E.) (Photo credit: 2nd Lt. Brandon Hillery) |
Each month, the coordinators email a volunteering digest to students at the USU Bethesda campus. This includes students in the School of Medicine, Graduate Education program, and the Graduate School of Nursing. The digest provides a list of volunteer experiences in the local area. The digest also highlights past volunteer experiences, sharing photos of USU students out in the community.
Currently, there are four volunteer coordinators. Army 2nd Lt. Kristin Burnham, a third-year School of Medicine student, Army 2nd Lt. Katherine Lee, a fifth-year MD/PhD student, Navy Ensign Heather MacEwen, a first-year medical student, and Navy Ensign Avori Bastemeyer, second-year medical student. The coordinators introduce the group as a resource during student orientation. For MacEwen, the newest addition who joined the group this past fall, stepping into the role as a volunteer coordinator seemed like a good fit.
“There’s avenues for us to get involved in the community outside of being a service member, " MacEwen says. And as someone who loves volunteering, she adds that it’s also “a great way to give back to our local community that we're now a part of.”
Burham, who joined the group before COVID, said it took on some changes during the pandemic. As a precaution, USU suspended all volunteering opportunities for service members and civilian students, and the monthly digest became more about keeping people up to date on current guidelines. That way, Burnham says, students wouldn’t feel they were “fighting alone.”
Once COVID restrictions were lifted, the group was able to resume helping students coordinate volunteer experiences and get back out into the community.
“I think for student wellness,” Burham says, “it's a really important thing that people both have those opportunities and know how to access them.”
While the volunteer coordinators provide guidance to students with questions about getting involved, or whether an opportunity is appropriate for military students, they don’t consider themselves “gatekeepers” of volunteering. Students aren’t required to go through the coordinators to participate in a volunteer experience.
“We aren’t trying to provide any red tape there,” Lee says. So once a student spots an opportunity that speaks to them, they can reach out to the organization directly. The group encourages students to participate in volunteer experiences as often, or as little, as they’re able.
In addition to the monthly digest, the volunteer coordinators also promote two awards that are available for student volunteers. The Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal (MOVSM) and the Civilian Student Community Service Award (CSCSA). The MOVSM is awarded to enlisted students with at least 200 hours of volunteer service while at USU. While the MOVSM is not exclusive to USU, Lee says many military students don’t know about the award.
The second award, the CSCSA, is awarded to civilian graduate students with at least 200 hours of volunteer service while at USU. Lee created the CSCSA, with guidance from Ms. Laura Baumann, assistant dean for Graduate Student Development and Support at USU, to recognize civilian students in the graduate program. The first recipient of the CSCSA will be announced this spring. Information and applications for both awards are available on the group’s website.
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Members of USU's Student National Medical Association host a clothing drive to support the DC Coalition for the Homeless. (Photo credit: 2nd Lt. Katherine Lee) |
While the coordinators acknowledge that clocking 200 hours of volunteer experience can be challenging, MacEwen offers a tip: “Logistically, I typically like to volunteer right at the start of an academic semester. I like to do some volunteer work when I know I have a little more time and less stress.”
And for MacEwen, she finds that volunteering “rejuvenates [her] energy” and provides engagement outside of studying, revitalizing her focus. The group also offers a tracking log. Located via the group’s website, the log was recently added to help students document and track their volunteer experiences. If needed, the log can be attached to the MOVSM or CSCSA for documentation of volunteer work.
Each of the coordinators find something unique about volunteering. For Lee, as a coordinator, she gets a glimpse into what “people are trying to rally support for.”
“There’s really a volunteer experience for anyone’s interest,” explains Lee. “I firmly believe that people should volunteer not as a requirement, but because it’s something they have a passion for and are interested in.”
Lee says her personal favorite way to give back is through “baking cakes for families or kids in the local community that are sick or in foster care.”
Burnham was most recently the president of Teaching Emergency Aid (TEA), a program teaching high school students techniques such as tourniquets and hemorrhage control. MacEwen is also a part of TEA, but also pinpoints Bethesda Cares, an outreach homeless program, as another organization she connects with.
And one unexpected benefit of volunteering, MacEwen said, is getting to interact with students she may otherwise not have encountered. For instance, MacEwen and Lee will be working alongside each other during rotations. Now MacEwen says she gets to form relationships with students from different programs and “support the community alongside them.”
“We're here to just support students,” Burnham says. “Whether that's finding [them] a great volunteer experience or making sure [they] have all the information to apply for the awards that we offer, we're just here for them.”
Having that support from fellow medical students benefits student’s efforts both within the classroom and in the community. Because fostering relationships during volunteer events, with fellow students and with community members, helps USU students focus on a common goal. A goal that likely led them to USU: providing care through collaboration and service. And caring for those in harm's way doesn't start once USU student volunteers finish their degree, it starts now.
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