WIHD Conducts Virtual Training with First-year Medical School Students

June 3, 2020

Karen Millman, LEND Family Partnership Training Coordinator/LEND Family Faculty, at the Westchester Institute for Human Development, in partnership with Jeanne Wilson, M.D. Course Director, "Foundations of Clinical Medicine", at New York Medical College held a 'virtual' joint training session on 4/22, for first-year medical school students. The session is typically held every year in-person, in the Spring, on the campus of NYMC, but due to COVID-19, this year the session was held via Zoom.

The goal of the session 'Caring for Patients with Disabilities' is intended for the medical school students to gain a better understanding of medical issues and health care experiences of individuals with disabilities and their families and to learn about approaches to providing optimal care as it applies to patients with disabilities. Medical school students had the opportunity to hear about the first-hand experiences of an individual with disabilities and his/her parent; and participate in a question and answer dialogue in their small groups. The training took place in 11 Zoom 'break-out' rooms consisting of 214 medical school students, 9 NYMC faculty facilitators and 11 either 'family team' (individual and his/her parent) 'parent only' or 'self-advocate' presenters.