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About one in five Americans has a disability and one in 10 has a severe disability. Whether dealing with physical disabilities, developmental disabilities or mental illness, these individuals face difficult challenges in the health care system.
Other Americans, such as the elderly, homeless, terminally ill and uninsured, also confront their own difficulties when seeking medical care. Future doctors at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine learn about these people on a personal level in the school's Vulnerable Groups program.
Kathy Johnson Neely, MD, assistant professor of medicine at Feinberg, takes her second-year medical students to sites around Chicago to meet and observe these disadvantaged groups. The on-site visits are part of the Physician, Patient and Society curriculum.
"This required curriculum is perhaps one last chance to broaden a student's perspective before they become immersed in the world of the hospital ward and clinic," said Dr. Neely. "The needs of people in these vulnerable groups span a broad spectrum of medical care that will need to be addressed by future doctors," she added.
"My personal and professional experience has been enriched by caring for patients at a women's shelter on hospice home visits, and I want to share this experience with my students as well," continued Dr. Neely, a staff physician at Seasons Hospice. "For many, just getting out of bed in the morning is an act of heroism."
Her students recently spent two weeks at various service agencies, including Chicago's Anixter Center, meeting and talking with a variety of people with disabilities and observing the care/treatment they receive. These people included:
- adults with a brain injuries caused by substance abuse or trauma;
- young adults 21-30 with developmental disabilities, who were learning how to take part in the community through jobs;
- children age 3-21 who have autism, ADHD and severe developmental delays; and
- people who are deaf who have addiction problems.
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