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When Laura Sideli Quilter entered medical school in 2007, little did she know that her first few house calls would involve weeding, planting and mulching. And she was not alone. Since the spring of 1996, nearly 1,800 IU School of Medicine students have participated in Spring House Calls, a service learning program that sends volunteers to two Indianapolis neighborhoods—Haughville and the United Northwest Area Neighborhood—to spruce up residents’ lawns as a learning tool for becoming better physicians.
Quilter was one of six co-chairs, all second-year medical students, for the spring event in 2009. “I love volunteering,” Quilter said. “Any chance you can get to get out of the classroom appeals to me. It helps me remember why I am in medical school and, after six hours in a dim lecture room, yard work is a welcome break.”
Spring House Calls was a natural for the 25-year-old future doctor who worked five summers for a lawn care company in her hometown of Bloomington, Indiana. “I just love taking anything and cleaning it up,” she said with a smile.
Quilter was not the only budding gardener on the team. Co-chair Ryan Hart also worked for a landscaping company for six summers. He sees Spring House Calls as a means to learn more about what motivates people. “Being able to help people with multiple aspects of their lives is really important in promoting overall health,” he said. “The lessons I learn from Spring House Calls will be something I will use in my practice.”
About 150 medical students participating in the event met at the Christamore House community center, just west of the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis campus, where they were organized into works crews and dispersed to several area homes. The crews spent the day raking, weeding, planting, mulching, trimming and sprucing, all while chatting with homeowners and other team members.
One of the highlights of the day for both students and homeowners is a luncheon at the Christamore House where mingling and stifling hunger pangs are the final order of the day.
“I got involved with Spring House Calls initially because it was an easy and great way to stay connected to the community around the IU Medical Center,” said 2009 co-chair Bill Steck. “Also, it was an opportunity to spend time with friends while performing a service for others. This was my second year volunteering for SHC which has helped me to better understand the importance of viewing health care as a part of a larger social picture. Many factors go into a person’s overall health, and it is important as future physicians that we try to understand the various factors that shape a community’s health.”
For Patricia Treadwell, M.D., Spring House Calls is a valuable way to teach students that there’s more to medicine than making diagnoses and ordering tests. “Spring House Calls personalizes medicine,” said Treadwell, Professor of Pediatrics at IUSM and an Faculty Director with the Office of Medical Service Learning—the office that organizes Spring House Calls and other outreach programs. “A couple years ago, one of the homeowners, a gentleman in his 80s, was so grateful that at the luncheon he stood up and started singing a spiritual ‘To God Be the Glory.’ It was very moving. If students only interact with patients in the clinic then they may not see the whole picture.”
Over the years, students have shown through their involvement that they, too, are looking for more than medical charts, prescriptions, blood pressure stats and brief moments with patients.
“I have learned that in taking care of our patients, we cannot simply focus on people’s physical health and ignore their emotional and spiritual well-being,” said Henry Chou, a 2009 co-chair. “Even though this service program is not medical in nature, it reminds students that people need our help in other ways. Compassion and beneficence should command our actions both in and outside of the doctor’s office. It reminds us that small changes can make a big difference.” According to long-time Spring House Calls community organizer Loretta Day, the homeowners look forward to the day with the students. “I hear from my neighbors after the event. ‘Mrs. Day, I’m so glad I got my yard done,’ they tell me.”
The student volunteers, too, look forward to the day with the homeowners; most first time participants sign up again. Chou, a two-time Spring House Calls participate, said, “I got involved with Spring House Calls because it allowed me to help out our neighbors and to forget about books for a while.” “Also,” he added with a smile, “the lunch is delicious.”
For additional information about Spring House Calls and the Office of Medical-Service Learning, which “promotes a lifelong commitment to community service through innovative service-learning experiences,” see www.medicine.iu.edu/omsl .
