Bigger Picture Smarter Service

Join The Evolution

Why

Must We

Evolve?

“We have by far the most expensive health system in the world. We spend 50% more per person than the average developed country -- spending more on health care than housing or food...

... Less than half of our population gets appropriate care at the right time...

... [Morevover], we have certainly received a poor return on all of our spending. In the industrialized world, we have the highest rate of medically preventable deaths and almost 100,000 people die every year from medical errors and poor quality. That’s the equivalent of two jumbo jets falling out of the sky every day. Meanwhile, the health status of our citizens declines, with chronic disease accounting for 75% of our health care costs and 96% of Medicare costs...

...we must make important investments in prevention and wellness...Preventing disease and controlling its effects over time need to be the foundation of our health care system.”

- Kathleen Sebelius, Former Secretary of The United States Department of Health and Human Services

Why

Must We

Evolve?

“We have by far the most expensive health system in the world. We spend 50% more per person than the average developed country -- spending more on health care than housing or food...

... Less than half of our population gets appropriate care at the right time...

... [Morevover], we have certainly received a poor return on all of our spending. In the industrialized world, we have the highest rate of medically preventable deaths and almost 100,000 people die every year from medical errors and poor quality. That’s the equivalent of two jumbo jets falling out of the sky every day. Meanwhile, the health status of our citizens declines, with chronic disease accounting for 75% of our health care costs and 96% of Medicare costs...

...we must make important investments in prevention and wellness...Preventing disease and controlling its effects over time need to be the foundation of our health care system.”

- Kathleen Sebelius, Former Secretary of The United States Department of Health and Human Services

ISCOPES can systematically address the bigger picture

health issues through smarter service

accomplished by those who are courageously commited to evolving outside the box.

About ISCOPES

ISCOPES is an evolving health focused service-learning initiative that places GW students and GW employees from various fields of study as well as community practitioners and neighbors from around the DC Metro Area in Interprofessional Learning Communities to address bigger picture health issues through smarter service.

For 10 hours/month September through April, students serve on project teams within these Learning Communities and tackle these health issues with multi-dimensional service projects.

Each Learning Community and its service project focuses on one of the following health domains: 1. Guardian Engagement - getting adults involved with kids’ health 2. Healthy Teen Scholars - adolescent health and health careers 3. Adult Health Literacy - digital health information, drug labels, and medical system literacy 4. Veterans History Project - achieving wellness through telling one’s story 5. Senior Wellness - living exceptionally ages 55+

Culturally competent service, inclusivity of diverse thought, and doing something about real health issues are the ingredients of ISCOPES. This is the world of health…evolved.

From September through April, you will serve people of the DC Metro Area through three key steps:

1. Participate: Focus on the health issues you care about in one of our five Learning Communities. Teach others about what you have learned elsewhere and learn from others in the process.

2. Serve: Apply what you and colleagues have discussed in your Learning Community in the form of a team service project. Build relationships with community partner sites and serve people who are most vulnerable to negative health outcomes.

3. Adapt: Analyze your project team’s ability to affect change with your service project. Use your creativity, classroom knowledge, and previous experience to adapt your project within your learning community to better affect the health outcomes of our neighbors in the DC Metro Area.

Providing uniquely talented individuals with the chance to engage in increasingly smarter service as a member of a diverse team is the core of ISCOPES. Together, you will address those health issues that cannot be overcome alone.

What You Give

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ISCOPES Year At A GlancePeople with good hearts, great minds, and important skills are always busy, but we build time, space, and flexibility into the ISCOPES schedule so that you can be involved despite your to-do list. Take a look at how the year flows so learning communities can come together and committed people can serve those who need it most.

September 2014

April 2015

“I would say our greatest success was the discussion we had about “them” and “us”. Throughout the meeting these terms were used often, until one of the group members pointed out that ‘we’ are ‘them.’”

– ISCOPES Student

“It’s great to feel that we may start these kids off

to a healthy routine that could help them lead

long and healthy lives.” -- ISCOPES StudentThe ISCOPES Experience

“[My teammate] is going to be a great professional wherever he ends up.”

“[My teammate’s] dedication was inspiring.”

“We discovered that ‘health’ is about more than just treating the disease or condition you see immediately in front of you. Health is about the whole person, as influenced by their community, lifestyle, activities, ideals, and beliefs.” -- ISCOPES Student

“There is really a large divide in terms of opportunity and distribution of resources and services between the

quadrants in DC, and this experience really challenged us to step out of our comfort zones which

will be crucial in being an effective health professional.“ -- ISCOPES Student

“Interprofessional teamwork is hard work but pays dividends.” -- ISCOPES Coach

“This was very motivating

and it taught me that young people do not give up on you and that they believe in you and will fight

with you to the end.” -- ISCOPES

Coach

Data below are presented for each of ISCOPES’ Five Learning Communities

82,958 students were enrolled in DC Public Schools and Charter Schools in FY14, all of whom have to get a Universal Health Certificate filled out every year by their guardian and health provider. osse.dc.gov/

Guardian Engagement

Why Your Service Counts: DC Data

“Older children who consistently participate in after-school activities are more likely to attend college, vote, and volunteer later in life.” ChildTrends.org

61% of adults in the District of Columbia read at or below a 6th grade reading level. 40% of District residents have completed grades 9 - 12 (or their GED) as their highest level of education. T. Ritsema, JHU

31,839 veterans live in DC. PTSD is estimated to occur in up to 31% of veterans. Also, 738 DC veterans were counted as unhoused in 2012. Telling one’s story is a tool for coping with PTSD, homelessness, & transition. va.gov

Nearly 12% of District residents are 65+ years of age. Of this population, 58.1% are either overweight or obese and 20.9% are living with diabetes. census.gov CDC.gov

Healthy Teen Scholars

Adult Health Literacy

VeteransHistory Project

Senior Wellness

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Through ISCOPES, you’ll hone skills and knowledge crucial for evolv-ing into a stellar health-focused professional. You’ll also gain:

1. Connections with neighbors throughout the District – crucial for future rotations, practicums, & jobs

2. New relationships formed with new colleagues – meet friends from different disciplines

3. Orientation to Washington, D.C. – a chance to explore our Nation’s Capital

4. Deeper awareness, understanding, and value of yourself, others, health, and healthcare

5. The desire to learn more – you’ll leave asking more questions than ever before

6. Access to content experts, faculty, and practitioners – many within your Learning Community

7. Out-of-classroom learning experiences – go beyond the lecture halls and books

8. Practice as a part of a health care team

9. Skills in health promotion/education

10. The chance to hone your time management and life balance skills

11. FUN! – make the most of your time at GW

All students who successfully complete a year of service with ISCOPES will receive: 1. A special academic transcript designation

2. Verifiable content for resumes, references, and letters of recommendations

3. Award opportunities

4. Leadership opportunties with the ISCOPES Leadership Team

What You Gain

An Essay and A CallInstitutional Passive Indifference: A Call to Mobilize[Edited for space] “We take many things for granted. As young, educated, privileged students of a private university we are sometimes sheltered from the harsh realities of the communities around us. Through work with [ISCOPES], I became aware of the various health disparities in and around the Anacostia community of Washington, DC.

One of the disparities we fight is the issue of varying levels of health literacy. [A training] presented by Professor Tamara S. Ritsema discussed the importance of being cognizant of health literacy in the work that we do through ISCOPES. It was astonishing to learn that the nation’s capital has a mean reading level of a 9 year old. There is a fundamental and institutional problem we need to address when 40% of DC residents have no more than a high school degree. In my opinion, it doesn’t necessarily have to do with the physical ability or capacity level of these individuals as much as it has to do with system/institutional issues.

Health literacy dictates whether or not a person will access or seek medical care.

Medical adherence and patient/physician communication are also dependent on the level of health literacy of the patient. The capacity to obtain, process, critique and apply basic health information and services is compromised when an individual has low literacy. Unfortunately, an array of social and behavioral determinants impacts the ability to maximize a person’s health utility or capacity.

Through street outreach and personalized weekly training courses, we are trying to fight this disparity on the grassroots level. Collectively, we try to educate community members on the health disparities associated with their cohort and help them advocate for better health care for not only themselves but for their communities. Furthermore, we want to ideally help individuals make lifestyle changes to improve their personal health so that the high prevalence of chronic, communicable, and mental illnesses can be addressed.As a coalition of young professionals bound together by a common interest, we need to galvanize and excrete morality back into the health arena.

There is a need to create and organize a system where there is a fair distribution of access to health. Look around you; DC is a great place to grow academically but it is riddled with racial and socio-economic stigmas that have consequently marginalized many of the people that we work with.

Through social justice initiatives and advocacy work, we can potentially alter discourse and promote education and responsibility to help combat some of the societal and political problems that pervade our local, state, and federal government currently. In order to make a systematic and vital contribution to health reform at least in the DC area, somehow we need to ground reform back to a moral issue.

Perhaps we will move one step closer in the new year…” --Asha Cesar, Public Health Graduate Student, 2011 - 2012 ISCOPES Participant

Go to http://smhs.gwu.edu/iscopes/students/apply-students. Sign up to serve with the people you care about and work on those health issues most important to you.

Learning Communities are filled on a first come, first serve basis! Apply by

September 3rd, 2014 at 11:59pm!

Applicants must: 1. Be enrolled as a GW student

2. Be interested in personal and communal healthy living

3. Commit at least 10 hours of service per month (heavier commitment on non-exam weeks, light to no commitment on exam weeks; hours do not include commute time) from September through April

4. Agree to a background or security check, fingerprinting, and/or TB test, as applicable (TBD - depends on community partner site requirements)

Previous experiences with service, health education and promotion, and shared leadership are desirable, but not required.

Interested in local, interprofessional service, but can’t make the full commitment? Contact us at iscopes@gwu.edu for more information about special initiatives & a DC-based Alt Spring Break!

Apply Today!

950 New Hampshire Ave, NW. 2nd Floor | Washington, DC. 20037

Connect With Us

http://iscopes.gwu.edu | iscopes@gwu.edu