In addition to her work on lupus education, Dr. Feldman participates in a Brigham and Women’s Hospital-led partnership with the Indian Health Service. For this work, she volunteers via telemedicine and also strives to spend one week each year on site in New Mexico, where she teaches and provides direct patient care to underserved communities.
Working in support of underserved communities is also a passion for Dr. Blanco, who says that in addition to her rheumatology efforts, she focuses her community outreach on diversity and inclusion. She participates in outreach efforts to increase the number of under-represented students who study health sciences and attend medical school. She also works with her students to provide health outreach, job training and even such tasks as filling out forms with people in need. Another group she supports is the Living Room, which addresses homelessness in The Bronx.
Norman Gaylis, MD
Community physicians aren’t immune from needing a little assistance sometimes, too. As a way to support research efforts among community physicians, Dr. Gaylis established a research grant from the Rheumatology Research Foundation for community rheumatologists. He wanted to give back in this way because of the unique position community physicians are in compared with those who work at large institutions.
“In the community, the physicians are the chief cook and bottle washer. They have to set the rules and create the guidelines—and do the right things on the fly,” he says.
COVID-19 Outreach
The community physician’s leadership role has been especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic. Beyond serving as reliable sources of information, some physicians have also increased their outreach efforts, providing community support during the health crisis.
Deborah Dyett Desir, MD
“What inspired me to do outreach to the community was the rapid realization that different communities within the greater community were not being affected equally by the pandemic,” says Deborah Dyett Desir, MD, assistant professor of clinical medicine at Yale University and president of New Haven County Medical Association, Conn. As part of her work with the New Haven Chapter of The Links Inc., she formed a COVID-19 Response Committee, which arranged a donation of 900 masks to the New Haven Housing Authority.
But that wasn’t all. Dr. Desir worked with her volunteer groups—including The Links, as well as the Theta Epsilon Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.—to get in touch with others in her community who could facilitate outreach where it was needed most and who could help with fundraising. They also donated N95 masks to community physicians who were having trouble obtaining them.
