Written by Madeline Kubiseski, Master of Health Administration Student

At Dalhousie Medicine, the Service Learning Program (MEDI2612) is offered during the first two years of Undergraduate Medical Education at Dalhousie University. The program integrates community engagement concepts into classroom-based learning (Professional Competencies 1) in first year with an optional community-based project experience in second year. Students who opt to take part in the “for credit” program do a minimum of 20 hours in order to complete the service learning experience during the academic year. The experience includes preparation, critical reflection assignments and a project deliverable that is relevant and useful for the community partner and the people engaged with their organization. Since the programs introduction in 2015, the program has expanded in community partners and students participating. I had the opportunity to speak with Jordan Boudreau and Allison Maybank, current service learning participants and student representatives, to capture their unique perspectives and experiences of the program during the two years.

How does the Service Learning Program respond to community needs and what is the community impact that you’ve seen in the past two years?

Service learning involves working with a community partner to address a community-identified need. Participants bring human resources, man-hours, and possibly institutional support to address the need that the organization may be otherwise unable to tackle alone due to lack of time, affiliations, or technical skills. The projects that were developed last year were remarkable, as were the depths of students’ reflections.

This year, there are 44 students working with 24 community partners between the two campuses in Saint John and Halifax. If we consider the mandatory minimum requirement of 20 person-hours spent in the community/on the project, then that’s nearly 1000 hours spent in the name of community service and self-reflection by the class of 2020 this year. By the midpoint reflection, it seemed that many of these projects were well underway and that students had some new relationship with their community, as well as an awareness of that relationship, that they hadn’t had before. Over time, having this introduction to community programs and their populations will lead to a better relationship between the medical school and community partners and a better understanding of community populations for medical professionals.

How does the Service Learning Program respond to feedback and evaluation of students and partners?

The service learning program responds well to feedback and evaluations and is always eager to improve for those involved. The ability for the program to respond to feedback is one of its major strengths. When it began last year, the leadership team had already done much to try to ensure that the program would fit nicely into the curriculum established for the students. All barriers to implementation couldn’t be known before trialing the program, however; snags inevitably came up with the hectic, dynamic, and individually-variable schedules of the second-year medical students. Sarah Peddle, the program manager, made every accommodation possible to shift the program to meet the students’ requests and is continuously working to make the program as effective as possible.  At the mid-year review, students noted that a chance for small funding would be helpful and within a couple months they had figured out a way to do this!

Beyond managing logistics, feedback was also used to help better identify potential matches between students and community partners and to improve communication between them. Other changes were made during the recruitment phase to help students understand the nature of Service Learning and appreciate the difference between service learning and volunteering. We are eager to hear the feedback from the larger group of students and partners that are involved with the program this year. It’s important that the SLP is providing an opportunity that meets everyone’s expectations and is providing a stimulus for reflection and growth.

Jordan and students at the year-end celebration for the Service Learning Program in May 2017 in Halifax.

How has the program prepared you for your future as clinicians?

 “While I do not believe that my perceptions of this population/community have changed dramatically, there is an undeniable change in my valence toward providing Opioid Substitution Therapy for people who use drugs. I already feel more responsible for the provision of addictions medicine now that the social consequences of drug use are not only an abstract idea, but tied to a concrete group of people whom I have met, who are much like me (and in other ways, completely unlike me), and have actionable ideas about how they can best be served.” – Jordan  

In keeping with last year’s cohort, students are already more able to speak to the availability of, as well as the barriers and facilitators to the provision of, community resources. The credible and compassionate way in which they do this is worth considerable weight alone.

“Personally, working with Big Brothers Big Sisters, I have learned a lot about the diversity of children and their families and the needs they have. This is generalizable to many populations, but as I am interested in pediatrics, it will benefit me when I am caring for children and families to remember that there are many variables to take into account when treating a child.”- Allison

Allison and her little, Ethan, enjoying some time outside together.

The service learning program is a natural extension of the everyday lives and motivations of today’s medical students. With program leadership steering the ship as they have been, and with their ability to respond to feedback from all involved, we have no doubt that this program will only grow in its ability to supplement student’s self-reflection, develop professional competencies, and help build capacity for change in the broader community and the social determinants of health of its constituents.

To learn more about the Service Learning Program, please visit our website, read our previous blog posts, or email Sarah Peddle at sarah.peddle@dal.ca.

By: Sarah Peddle, Service Learning Program Manager

The past two years have been very exciting times for the new Service Learning Program at Dalhousie Medicine. We have gone from the developmental stage of the program to full implementation and evaluation. We have seen what was once a bunch of community-based project ideas come full circle as completed works along with meaningful community-university partnerships and experiences.

At Dalhousie Medicine, The Service Learning Program (MEDI2612) is offered during the first two years of Undergraduate Medical Education at both the Halifax and Saint John campuses. The program integrates community engagement concepts into classroom-based learning (Professional Competencies I) in their first year with an optional community-based project experience in their second year. Students who opt to take part in the for credit program do a minimum of 20 hours in order to complete the service learning experience over the academic year.

In terms of process, Students apply for the program and are matched with community-based not-for-profit organizations, or develop their own experiences based on existing partnerships they have, and who work with marginalized and underserved populations. The experience includes preparation, critical reflection assignments and a project deliverable that is relevant and useful for the community partner and their clients. The projects are designed in collaboration with community partners (including staff and people who use their services) and the university (students, staff and Faculty).

In celebration of our first two years, we have created a video in partnership with the MedIT Video Audio Production team under the leadership of Matthew Stones. The video is a promotional tool for the program that can be used when explaining what service learning is and what our program has too offer. Special thanks to our 2016-17 program participants for their contributions to this video and on-going support.

Service Learning Program video

To watch the service learning video, please click here.

To learn more about the program please visit our Service Learning Program webpage.

Written by Matt Jalink, MSc Candidate in Community Health and Epidemiology

In November 2016, I spoke with second year medical students (Andy Jin, Chad Purcell, and Sam Armstrong) who were about to begin their Service Learning Program experiences facilitated by the Dalhousie Global Health Office. The Service Learning Program is offered during the first two years of Undergraduate Medical Education at Dalhousie University. The program integrates community engagement concepts into classroom-based learning (Professional Competencies class) in their first year with an optional community-based project experience in their second year. The projects are designed in collaboration with community partners (including staff and people who use their services) and the university (students, staff and Faculty) to address a community-identified priority issue or gap in knowledge.

At the end of their experience, I met with these three students to hear about their Service Learning projects. Chad and Sam worked with Direction 180 and Mainline, two non-profit organizations in Halifax who implement harm reduction programs for people who use drugs. Chad and Sam, created a video to increase awareness of the emerging opioid treatment medication, Naloxone. Andy worked with RECAP , the Centre for Research, Education & Clinical Care of At-Risk Populations in Saint John.

Chad, Sam and Andy found their Service Learning Program experiences to be positive, meaningful and fulfilling. The unique experiences the program offered allowed the students to see how curriculum concepts present in a real world context. All three noted that they felt privileged to have had this opportunity.

The preparation from the Global Health Office helped them feel prepared to work with the community organizations  But they spoke about being overwhelmed with the complexity and wealth of information from the clients. The ability to select their project helped the student’s preparation, and the community partners were excellent at filling in the experiences from the populations that they work with on a daily basis.

Chad Purcell

The students had many positive experiences with their community partners. Sam and Chad enjoyed learning about Direction 180’s operations, and the vulnerable population they serve. Creating a video to highlight the realities of the opioid epidemic in Halifax and the life-saving treatment programs Direction 180 offer was rewarding. The goal of the video was to humanize the experience of addiction and educate the public about the potential health consequences and contributing factors to the use of drugs.

Andy greatly enjoyed forming new relationships with the wonderful staff at RECAP. The experience included the development of a financial mentoring program that aims to assist and support clients with their finances.

The challenging aspects of the students’ Service Learning program experiences were dependent on the nature of their project. Sam and Chad found some of the technical aspects of their video shooting challenging. Chad noted that with the help of the staff, the interviews with the patients went smoothly. Sam found editing their video to a reasonable length the most challenging due to ample footage.

Sam Armstrong (middle)

Partaking in the Service Learning program had an influence on the students’ professional development and future career path. Chad and Sam both noted that gaining insight into the lives of the patients that they will one day serve and learning first hand the extent of the opioid crises in Canada to be invaluable experiences towards their career development. Andy also found working directly with patients to be influential in his own career path, and has a greater interest in becoming involved with public health and policy.

I would like to thank Andy, Chad, and Sam for sharing their Service Learning Projects! They were very insightful, conscientious, and impactful for their communities. For more information on available experiences through the Service Learning Program on both Halifax and Saint John campuses, please visit The Service Learning Program’s webpage.

Written by Matt Jalink, Community Health & Epidemiology student at Dalhousie University

November 2016