University of Cincinnati Department of Family and Community Medicine

Heather Peterson, Summer 2016

While working for Dr Kiesler I had many different roles. My first role was to call all of the community agencies on the Community and Homeless Resources Map and make any edits to their information on the map. I also distributed copies of the map to agencies to display at their site so that when someone presents for one service they can use the map to figure out where they can go for other needs they have. My second and largest role was to serve as the clinic coordinator for the Racetrack Clinic at Belterra Racetrack. This included attending clinic every Thursday night and running odd jobs throughout the week such as faxing paperwork, picking up prescriptions and arranging taxis to transport patients. My third role was to organize the annual Belterra Racetrack Health Fair. It was held on July 27th and offered many services including oral health screenings, vision screenings, glucose and cholesterol screenings, HIV and Hep C screenings, blood pressure checks and Medicaid enrollment assistance. The fair served over 50 people, many of whom followed up at the clinic the following night. For the fair I made gift bags containing hygiene items such as toothbrushes, sunscreen and soap and taped fact sheets to each item explaining why it is important to use the items. For example, I included facts about the prevalence of skin cancer and the efficacy of sunscreen to encourage its use. I also included reminders about the clinic's hours and free services to encourage the racetrack employees to visit the clinic. Through these measures I hoped to stimulate the employees to take charge of their own health. In addition to these jobs, Dr Kiesler and I have begun a descriptive analysis of the patient data that has been recorded for the last 10 years. Patient information such as age, gender, country of origin, income, smoking status, education level and diagnoses are collected and recorded into a database each time a patient visits the clinic. Dr Kiesler and I plan to analyze the database to learn key information about the patient population such as the number returning patients each year, the top 100 diagnoses, whether immigrant status affects the follow up frequency, and whether job or income affects the health status of the patient. I could not be more thankful for the amazing opportunity I had to learn under the guidance of Dr Kiesler this summer. I have developed my patient skills, found a new passion for working with the underserved and had my eyes opened to the obstacles and challenges racetrack workers face. I have learned so much about community medicine, working with underserved and impoverished populations and about the community resources that exist to serve those populations. I am so thankful that I chose to do Urban Health Project and so glad that I ended up at the site I did. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience that changed me as a student and as a future physician and community leader.