Proud of You, PHC

This past year, one of my most dreaded days became my proudest.

It was Sunday, May 31—the day of our Philadelphia Health Corps signature service project.  Throughout the service term, my fellow service committee members and I had always coordinated monthly outside service projects for the rest of our corps, contacting organizations around the city to help with meal serves and gardening projects and holiday events outside of daily service at our host sites.  But this project was different.  Instead of joining a pre-existing service event for our May project, we had decided to take on a signature service project to be created and planned ourselves.

We partnered with Grace Café, a program of Arch Street Methodist Church that hosts a meal serve each week for those in need of a hot meal.  In addition to food insecurity, these same people often battle homelessness, addiction, and poor past experiences within the healthcare system.  Together we decided that a smaller-sized health fair in a familiar place would be a great service for the Grace Café community that is typically lost to primary care.

The first month or so of planning, we were a little slow getting started.  It was our first attempt at planning a health fair, and we weren’t sure where to begin.  As time passed and we struggled to get providers and services locked in for our big day, we began to worry that people wouldn’t come.  I was afraid everyone would feel like the day was a waste, and I started to dread May 31.

Fortunately, things started to fall into place.  We began to secure donations of toiletries and food and we enlisted organizations to provide services.  As we spread the word about the health fair, potential guests showed interest.  We started to feel a little bit better.  Although our committee didn’t know what to expect, we all agreed to keep the goal in mind: providing services to those who need them.  As one member of the service committee put it, “If one person shows up for this health fair, I’ll call it a success.  We will have helped one person get some great services.”

We helped 53 guests, and we absolutely considered it a success.  During the health fair I looked around, and I just felt so proud.  I was so proud of my committee for making it happen, and I was so proud to be amongst my fellow PHC members who were all so caring and supportive.  It was such a beautiful culmination of everything we’d all been doing for the year.  We had members assessing guests for insurance eligibility, conducting blood pressure and blood glucose checks, and doing rapid HIV/Hepatitis C testing and counseling.  We had members registering guests and asking about their specific health needs, guiding them from station to station, and passing out toiletries and snacks.  I saw patience, empathy, and compassion in my entire corps.

At the end of the day, our service committee shared a group hug and a “We did it!”

It was cheesy, and it was wonderful.  I was so moved that day and so grateful that I could share the experience with such incredible people, but I realized that my feelings of pride were rooted deeper than the health fair.  Seeing our entire corps come together reminded me of all that we’ve learned and accomplished this year—big, small, and in between.  I’m confident that each of us will do amazing things in the future, and I’m so excited to see the difference that we continue to make.