IU Medical Students Make Spring House Calls

INDIANAPOLIS - The crew descended on the property like a flock of hungry seagulls at a fisherman’s wharf, unloading yard tools and flowers. They introduced themselves to the homeowner, Mrs. Bellamy, who stood on her porch, beaming in the early-morning Saturday sun and surveying the activity that unfolds before her.

Nearly 100 IU School of Medicine students volunteered to help Indianapolis inner-city residents spruce up their homes and properties, April 14. Spring House Calls is one of many volunteer programs coordinated through the School's Office of Medical Service-Learning.

Students prepare to tackle their assignments in the Haughville neighborhood.

“This really is a nice thing you’re doing for me and others,” she said to one of her visitors, her voice muffled by the high-pitched whizzing of a weed trimmer and a pair of roaring lawnmowers.

It was all in a day’s work for this crew, who were among nearly 100 Indiana University School of Medicine students participating in the annual Spring House Calls, April 14. The program teams students, with inner-city homeowners to help spruce up their properties.

The students, who fanned out to their assignments in the Haughville and Blackburn areas of the city’s near-westside, this year served Mrs. Bellamy and 23 other homeowners. Home base was Christamore House, a multiservice organization and facility in Haughville. Each work crew had specific jobs, ranging from grass-cutting to installing smoke and fire detectors

The Spring House Calls program began in 1996, and since its inception, nearly 500 students have rolled up their sleeves and logged more than 4,500 hours in service. The students, most of who are in their second year of medical school at the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis campus, plan, organize and execute the entire event.

“This program gives us a sense of what people face in their daily lives, the kind of things you wouldn’t ordinarily see or know in a clinical visit,” noted student Arpan Patel, who along with Marc Kohli, Smriti Banthia, Mark Fisch and Leon Kelly directed this year’s program. Patel said experiences such as Spring House Calls prepare him and his fellow classmates to become more caring physicians.

That sentiment is echoed by Patricia Keener, M.D., clinical professor of pediatrics and assistant dean for the Office of Medical Service-Learning at the IU School of Medicine. “Student volunteers for Spring House Calls and other projects learn the value of community service and, as a result, are more likely to become advocates for health-care policies that ultimately improve health care delivery,” she said.

This year’s program was supported with donations from several local business and civic organizations, including: Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Nations Rent, Health and Hospital Services-Marion County Health Department, Flanner and Buchanan Mortuaries and Crematory, Meridian Street Greenhouse and Crossroads Greenhouse.

“Most of the folks in this neighborhood, particularly the senior citizens, take a lot of pride in their homes, but because of their income or health they just aren’t able to make the repairs and keep it in the shape they would like,” said Patrice M. Abduallah, vice president of the Neighborhood Association of Haughville.

“What the students are doing is invaluable - they’re helping give back that pride to my neighbors,” Abduallah added.

For more information about Spring House Calls and other IU School of Medicine Office of Medical Service-Learning volunteer activities, visit its Web site at www.medicine.iu.edu/~omsl/.

Media Contact: Joe Stuteville
Tel: (317)274-7722
Email: jstutevi@iupui.edu

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