Working to Build Bridges: Medical Students’ Perspectives on Service Learning

Abstract

As part of Bridging Gaps in Care, a service-learning organization at the Boston University School of Medicine, medical students conduct monthly visits to residents of a subsidized housing apartment building in Roxbury, one of Boston’s oldest and most diverse neighborhoods. Students see these sessions as opportunities to serve their community, promote healthy living, and understand social determinants of health. However, if there is one thing these students have learned during their time in Bridging Gaps in Care, it is that the residents of the apartment building are the ones who are doing all the teaching.