Focus on a student org: Health Leads

A reader recently emailed me asking about some things I am involved with on campus! I thought this would be a great way to show the diversity of things GW has to offer to those of you waiting for your acceptance letters (knock on wood) or looking at the school as an option or even a current student looking for new opportunities!

The biggest time commitment for me, besides school work of course ;) is Health Leads. Health Leads is an student organization on campus that is part of a bigger national nonprofit that was started by a Harvard student who wanted to help low-income families coming into hospitals who only received medication and no help for their social needs. The GW chapter of Health Leads works out of Children's National Medical Center and it's basically an internship.

The blurb from the website basically sums it up! "In clinics where our Health Leads program operates, physicians can “prescribe” food, housing, health insurance, job training, fuel assistance, or other resources for their patients as routinely as they do medication. Located in waiting rooms and staffed by college volunteers, our Health Leads volunteers “fill” these prescriptions by connecting patients with key resources."

I have had a great time working for this organization for almost 2 years now, first as a desk volunteer and a Resource Team member, and now as a part of the leadership team. I am a Resource Coordinator for the organization.

Health Leads has been honored several times lately, winning the Kennedy "New Frontier Award," being mentioned in several newspapers and magazines like the Oprah magazine, as well as being mentioned as an important organization by Michelle Obama!!

Questions? marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu
- Marisa