MEDICAL-LEGAL PARTNERSHIP CLINIC STUDENTS PARTICIPATE IN INAUGURAL “HEALTH EQUITY IMMERSION” WITH PENN STATE HEALTH MEDICAL RESIDENTS AND PENN STATE COLLEGE OF MEDICINE STUDENTS
October 2022 — An interdisciplinary group of Penn State students, faculty, and medical residents boarded a bus in Hershey to embark on the inaugural Health Equity Immersion — a five-hour experience designed to teach participants about the social and political determinants that contribute to health disparities. Among the participants were students in the Medical-Legal Partnership Clinic and Professor Medha D. Makhlouf, who co-developed the experience with colleagues at Penn State College of Medicine and Penn State Health.
The inaugural Health Equity Immersion focused on the roots of health disparities in Harrisburg as well as the essential and unique role of community service agencies in promoting health equity for underserved populations. The experience began with a presentation on the history of Harrisburg’s neighborhoods, with a focus on the history of residential segregation and unequal resource allocation. David J. Morrison, Executive Director of the Historic Harrisburg Association, delivered the presentation on the bus ride from Hershey to Harrisburg. Mr. Morrison provided contextual historical information about the neighborhoods as the group traveled through them during the day.
The first stop of the day was the Beacon Clinic for Health and Hope, where the group met Executive Director Debra McClain. Beacon Clinic is a free health clinic located in the Uptown neighborhood of Harrisburg. Ms. McClain described the history of the Clinic and explained how it fills a gap in providing access to health care for underserved populations.
The second stop was the International Service Center, where Executive Director Phuong Truong and several staff members greeted the group. The staff shared information about the many programs offered by the organization, many of which are aimed at serving refugees, asylees, and other humanitarian immigrants. After this introduction, the learners split into small groups to meet with recently arrived refugees from Afghanistan and Ukraine. The purpose of the meetings was to learn about the immigration process from the perspective of a refugee and to assess the unmet social, legal, and health needs of recently arrived refugees.
The group then went to Hamilton Health Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center in the Alison Hill neighborhood of Harrisburg. Its mission is to provide high-quality health care to all, including the uninsured and underinsured. The students met the recently retired CEO of Hamilton Health Center, Jeanine Peterson, who moderated a panel discussion among State Representative Patty Kim; Rhodia Thomas, Executive Director of MidPenn Legal Services and Penn State Dickinson Law Adjunct Professor of Law; and Dr. Arthur Williams, Adult Medicine Director at Hamilton Health. Each panelist described their personal and professional motivations for working in the public interest, then took questions from the audience. The visit concluded with a tour of the extensive facilities at Hamilton Health Center.
In addition to Professor Makhlouf, other members of the Health Equity Immersion Leadership Team include Dr. N. Benjamin Fredrick, Dr. Bernadette Gilbert, Dr. Leesha Helm, Dr. Jonathan J. Nunez, all of Penn State Health; and Sharon Adams, RN, Executive Director of Southcentral Pennsylvania Area Health Education Centers (AHEC).
Professor Medha D. Makhlouf is the Elsie deR. and Samuel P. Orlando Distinguished Professor, an Associate Professor, and the Founding Director of the Medical-Legal Partnership Clinic at Penn State Dickinson Law. She has a joint appointment in the Department of Public Health Sciences at Penn State College of Medicine. Professor Makhlouf’s research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of health law, immigrants’ rights, and poverty law and policy. Her recent scholarship has been published in the New York University Law Review, the California Law Review Online, and the Yale Journal of Health Policy, Law & Ethics. Professor Makhlouf’s work is available at https://works.bepress.com/medha-makhlouf/.
