Dr. Cronholm' s PROJECTS

Drew Health Collaborative

This is an on-going collaborative project with middle school students, parents, teachers and administrators in the Charles Drew School at 38th and Powelton Streets in West Philadelphia. The families of Drew are urban poor with 97% receiving government aid, 87% are African American. Focus groups, PTA meetings, school conferences, individual meetings are used to encourage communication. Yearly programs are developed and implemented to identify and satisfy the health care and educational needs of the Drew middle school students. Resident physicians, faculty physicians, medical students, graduate and undergraduate students from all of Penn's schools are engaged in this collaborative effort. This project has been on-going since 1997.

Physicians and Teens For Health After School Program

This After School Program was begun during the 2000-2001 school year. Here middle school students at the Drew school spend after school hours learning about health and developing healthy lifestyles. Teens are mentored as well as taught by Penn's family practice residents, family practice faculty, medical students, graduate education students, nursing and social work students as well as Penn undergraduates from the school of arts and sciences. Together Penn residents and students build and experience fun, developmentally appropriate, health-related activities for the students in grades 5-8. The after school curriculum is based on the constructs of active, problem-based, service learning. The goal is to raise the "health IQ" of the Drew students and to teach medical learners non-traditional ways to approach patients, families and communities with health promotion, disease prevention.

Summer Health Camp For Teens

A summer camp is held for Charles Drew students in grades 6-8 at the University City High School. Here teens learn about health and healthy behaviors as well as explore the resources of the neighboring areas of Philadelphia. A team of students from the nursing, dental, social work and medical schools at Penn act as camp organizers and counselors each year. This camp runs in conjunction with Penn's Department of Family Practice and Community Medicine, the Bridging the Gaps Program and Penn's Center for Community Partnerships.

Physicians-on-the-Move Gratis School, Camp and Sports Physicals

Teams of faculty and resident physicians, medical and nursing students perform physicals for under-privileged children of any age in Philadelphia who is in need of a physical in order to participate in school sports, summer camp or other enrichment programs. These physicals are provided free-of-charge and often in a group, community setting.

Physicians and the Community Speakers Bureau

Residents and faculty from the Department of Family Practice and Community Medicine respond to the health educational needs of the Philadelphia community. Individual speakers and panels of speakers are sent to various community sites at the request of a community member or organization to discuss health topics of interest to that particular community. At times physicians participate in community health fairs.

DR. Cronholm's CLASSES

326. Public Health and Family Medicine Elective

Prerequisites: Family Practice 200 and permission of course director. Dr. J. Fisher and staff. The goal of this elective is to introduce students to the field of population-based medicine. This introduction has 5 objectives. Throughout this course students will (1)gain an insider's view of the Philadelphia Department of Public Health sampling its many programs and services for the citizens of Philadelphia. Just of few of these programs are: Childhood Lead Program, Environmental Health Services, Air Management Services, Medical Examiner's Office, Philadelphia' Coordinated Health Care Section, Division of Early Childhood, Youth and Women's Health, Office of Health Promotion, Behavioral Health Services; (2)become a member of a hospice team for a month to learn the medical, social work, nursing, pastoral care and team approaches to caring for dying persons and their families; (3) learn the major issues confronting workers, practitioners, and policy makers in the field of occupational medicine both locally and worldwide as well as learn to care for patients with occupational injuries. Many of these patients will be different levels of health care providers; (4) see patients at Penn Family Care 4 half days/week and discuss the public health aspects of the individual patient's care with the office preceptor; and (5) start/continue their own public health project or work with the family practice residents in a resident-based community project. Two half days/week are reserved for project time.

HSOC/HSSC 015 Unequal Treatment: Health in America

This seminar focuses on the tremendous disparities that exist in the health status of contemporary Americans. Led by a practicing physician who is actively engaged in training family practice residents, the course ask students to explore the current evidence for health disparities that exist in the United States and the role played by such factors as gender, race, geographic area, and socioeconomic status. Students will explore a broad gamut of societal factors -- nutrition, literacy, education, role-modeling and mentoring -- and the subsequent effects that these disparities have on the health of individuals and communities. Individually and in teams, students will evaluate a set of programs that address these disparities. These evaluations will include site visits to several such programs based in Philadelphia.