Baylor College of Medicine-Temple students contribute to community in a big way
A presence in Temple, Texas, for only three years, Baylor College of Medicine has made a significant impact on the community through the volunteer efforts of its local students. The first class at Baylor’s School of Medicine Temple campus started in July 2023, and through the school’s Service Learning Program, students augment their academic learning through community engagement.
Students choose a community partner site or social issue and engage in service, education and reflection activities throughout the year, with an event at the end of the academic year where they showcase their work.
Some of the organizations in Temple that have benefited from student volunteerism include: Family Promise of Bell County (a homeless diversion center); McLane Children’s Hospital Child Life Program; Meals on Wheels; Postpartum Education Program at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center (BSWMC) Temple; Ralph Wilson Youth Club; Temple Community Clinic; Temple ISD (as Wildcat Mentors); and TLC East Nursing Home and Eleventh Hour at BSWMC Temple, a program, started by a medical student in 2023, where volunteers sit and visit hospice patients with no other family, friends or visitors during their final days.
Last year, in recognition of their service, the Office of Temple Mayor Tim Davis issued a proclamation in appreciation of first- and second-year Baylor Temple students.
The proclamation reads in part, “Since the BCM Temple campus opened in July 2023, BCM Temple medical students have provided over 2,500 hours of volunteer service in Temple nonprofit organizations. In addition to their rigorous schedule, they commit the time to provide, cook or serve meals in a homeless diversion center, tutor or mentor children, provide postpartum education to new moms, deliver meals to the food insecure, visit residents in a local nursing home, provide flu shots at drive-through flu clinics, teach emergency tourniquet applications, comfort the lonely in their final moments or play with and read to children who have been hospitalized.”
Read more about volunteerism in Q&As with Temple students, Neha Philip, Marin Guthrie and Yahvi Suhalka.
