UCSF Medical Students Volunteer at SF Boys & Girls Club for After-School Program SF SHARE

For the past three years, UCSF medical students have volunteered to discuss healthy choices and health care resources with teens and preteens at the Ernest Ingold Boys & Girls Club in the Haight-Ashbury District of San Francisco. The after-school program, San Francisco Student Health Advocates of Resources and Education, is best known by its acronym SF SHARE. During the school year on Monday afternoons, between five and 10 UCSF medical students give interactive presentations to at-risk teens on health topics that are requested by the teens themselves. Topics this year included nutrition, eating disorders, drugs, alcohol, smoking, exercise, tips for teen athletes, male and female development, and STDs. Teens also learn how to access health-related community services, and are empowered to teach their peers what they have learned by giving presentations to other Boys & Girls Clubs in the city. "SF SHARE is unique because the curriculum is directed by the kids, it builds on existing community resources and it helps youth develop the skills needed to become community leaders," says Jennifer Dominguez, Ernest Ingold Boys & Girls Club director. The Boys & Girls Club of San Francisco, established in 1891, serves more than 12,000 youths in eight neighborhoods, offering a variety of programs to help young people stay clear of risky behavior and realize their full potential. Approximately 250 school-aged children come to the Boys & Girls Club in the Haight on a daily basis for their after-school programs, including homework help, sports and recreation, character and leadership skills, education and career development, and health education. "One of the highlights of SF SHARE is not just what they are learning, but that the kids are exposed to young adults pursuing great things. The medical students are their role models," says Dominguez. "There is a lot of diversity among the medical students, and the more times the kids can see successful people of their own race, the better." Three years ago, UCSF pediatrician Curtis Chan, MD, started SF SHARE as a way to build a bridge between UCSF and the San Francisco Boys & Girls Clubs. With this program, medical students have had the opportunity to learn about community health education while being mentors for young people to become health advocates in their own communities. "Since Boys & Girls Clubs are located in most at-risk neighborhoods in the city, I started this program as a way to address violence and how it affects health among youth," says Chan. "The goal is for medical students to train older Boys & Girls Club members, and have them share the ideas and resources with younger members and other clubs in the city." With a focus on whole-child health, Chan explains the four pillars of the program: physical health, mental health, access to health care, and a healthy environment in both the clubhouse and the community. Not only does this partnership benefit the children, Chan says, but this experience will help the medical students become better doctors. "The teens at SF SHARE remind me every week that there is life outside of medical school," says Adam Schickedanz, who is studying pediatric and adolescent health as a medical student at UCSF. "The teens help keep me grounded, and that's as important along my career path as any class I've ever taken." Links: San Francisco Student Health Advocates of Resources and Education