The next session of the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians’ (OAFP) Bite-Sized Learning program is set for Sunday, May 16, at 8 p.m. This week’s session is titled “Utilizing StoryCorps as a Narrative Medicine Approach to Understand the Effects of COVID-19 amongst Seniors in a Cleveland Neighborhood.” Members can join the conversation by logging on to the OAFP’s Facebook page or YouTube channel to watch live.
Moderated by OAFP President Mike Sevilla, MD, this session will feature Varun Gopinath, MPH, a medical student at the Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED) and participant of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) Foundation’s Family Medicine Leads (FML) Emerging Leader Institute (ELI). Also joining the session will be Varun’s project mentors, Sonji Boyd, MD, and Linda Stone, MD.
To address the health disparity found in the Fairfax neighborhood of Cleveland, OH, Varun’s project focuses on the aspects of loneliness amongst seniors and building clinician-patient partnership through meaningful conversation with StoryCorps Connect, an online platform designed for distanced interaction. The goal of the project is to utilize StoryCorps discussion led by open-ended questions to develop bi-directional understanding and to re-imagine solutions to current health disparities.
We asked Varun to provide an overview of the project and what’s been learned so far. Here is what he shared, which he will elaborate on during the session!
Given my background in service, public health, and urban primary care, I chose a project that would address health disparities found in the community I live, learn, and serve within. I had been in talks with my mentor, Dr. Boyd, prior to applying to ELI as to what issues she experienced on the ground as an urban family physician. These conversations were the original seedlings of the current project we both have been working tirelessly on even in the midst of our clinical and academic demands. Being a part of the NEOMED urban pathway also gave me exposure to problems that are found right in my backyard. As a result, I’ve been immersed through both curricular activities and my own curiosity within the health injustice discourse here in Cleveland.
After finding out that I had been selected to be a part of this year’s class of ELI scholars, Dr. Boyd and I immediately got to work with our initial brainstorming sessions. With the additional aid of my ELI mentor, Dr. Stone, and the training received during ELI in August, I felt I was well supported throughout the entire process. The outcome of these conversations focused on loneliness amongst seniors within predominantly African American neighborhoods in Cleveland to understand the impact of COVID-19 on their lives. After connecting with potential stakeholders, we honed in on a project that would specifically utilize StoryCorps Connect to address loneliness amongst seniors and health disparity in the Fairfax neighborhood through clinician-patient connection building via meaningful conversation. The use of StoryCorps Connect allowed us to interact with participants is a safe manner given the current pandemic while also allowing us to build connection within patients from Dr. Boyd’s practice at University Hospital Otis Moss., Jr. Health Center.
The FML ELI focuses on ensuring the future of the specialty by increasing the number of future family medicine leaders and provides training for this important role. Thirty residents and students are selected to participate in the yearlong program. They each are paired with a family physician mentor and complete a project in one of three leadership tracks: Policy & Public Health, Personal & Practice, and Philanthropic & Mission-Driven. For more information, visit the AAFP Foundation’s website.
The OAFP will host these learning sessions on Sunday evenings as we have speakers and topics. Members can join the conversation by logging on to OAFP’s Facebook page or YouTube channel to watch live. Live viewers can submit questions and comments throughout the session. The sessions will be 40 minutes or less!
The learning sessions will be recorded and available on the OAFP’s Facebook page, YouTube channel, and the OAFP website for future viewing.
If you have suggestions for future learning sessions or have a story to tell yourself, please contact Kaitlin McGuffie.
Financial support for this program was provided by the AAFP Foundation to the Family Medicine Philanthropic Consortium (FMPC) and is funded by members like you! Help programs like this continue to support family medicine by giving to the AAFP Foundation. Select “Chapter Grants” when making your gift online. Thank you!