COMMUNITY OUTREACH PROGRAMS

The Doc Is IN

We've been working with high school students on the "Doc is In" program since 1996. Located in North Long Beach, Jordan High School has a magnet school for students interested in science and health care careers.



Residents in all three years have the opportunity to participate as pairs of residents adopt a class for the school year. Regular monthly sessions cover information and activities which relate to health issues most pertinent to teens. In addition, the residents serve as role models and sources of information on careers in health care.

This activity won an award as the subject of the residents' display at the 1997 Annual Scientific Assembly of the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Cabrillo Football

We have served as the team physician for the Cabrillo High School varsity football team since 1999. At least one faculty member and one or more residents attend each game as the on-the-field docs, adding to our hands-on sports medicine experience while providing some needed community support.

Go Jaguars!

Fit Teen

Reach out and Read

Tar Wars

As a part of the community medicine curriculum, residents and faculty are given the opportunity to go to fifth grade classrooms in local schools as part of the Tar Wars program. Tar Wars is a pro-health, tobacco education program and poster contest the ultimate goal of which is to discourage tobacco use among our nation's youth. Residents become teachers for one hour as they present this fun, image-based lesson, which focuses on the short-term effects of tobacco use, the reasons people use tobacco, and the images that tobacco companies use to market their products.



The Tar Wars program offers an opportunity for school personnel, health care providers, educators and community members to join together and address the issue of youth target marketing and youth access to tobacco. It also gives each resident valuable experience working with and educating children, while experiencing firsthand the excitement and enthusiastic participation of the fifth graders.

For more information, see Tar Wars.

El Hongo Clinic

Originally spearheaded by a third-year resident, our program's involvment with a medical clinic in the small northern Mexico town of El Hongo has been going on since 2005. In collaboration with the Flying Samaritans, every 1-2 months one or more other faculty and a handful of residents spend a Saturday working at the clinic, which is staffed by American undergraduate volunteers. In the years since it started, patient visits are up significantly, and each month brings a new feature to this growing enterprise.

Women's Shelter of Long Beach

For several years we have been associated with WomenShelter of Long Beach, with the resident from our behavioral medicine rotation and our behavioral science director visiting monthly, working with the clients there.
In addition, one resident serves as our resident liaison to the shelter, coordinating drives for donations and helping with educational programs for the center's clients.