Mobile Health Lab receives accolades
The Durham Tech Community Health Lab recently was among organizations honored by Duke through two different awards.
In partnership with the Duke Outpatient Clinic, the Community Health Lab received the 2024 Interprofessional Education Team Excellence Award, which honors teams for extraordinary accomplishments and service in interprofessional education and care.
The collaboration between the clinic and the Community Health Lab enables monthly home visits to vulnerable patients who are limited in their ability to come to the clinic.
The “learner-created, learner-led and learner-centered" joint venture was launched during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to care for patients outside the clinic, while providing students learning experiences in the field with skilled professionals.
Resident physicians, Durham Tech health students and N.C. Central University social work interns comprise the interprofessional team that educators from Duke and Durham Tech oversee. Duke Outpatient Clinic residents arrange the schedule with the patient and the patient’s primary care provider. The team checks patients’ vital signs, performs assessments, collects samples for lab work and addresses any other needs the patient has such as food or housing concerns.
“We have been thrilled with the impact this partnership has had in creating positive outcomes for people in our community who need health care that can come to them, as well as for Duke’s medical residents, students in our health care programs and NCCU students who want to become social workers,” said Whitney Young, Durham Tech's Community Health Lab coordinator. “We are so proud to have received the 2024 Interprofessional Education Team Excellence Award recognizing our collaboration, the work we are doing and the results it has had.”
The Community Health Lab also was among more than 200 community organizations that have come together to support the Duke Caregiver Community Event over the past three years. The Duke Caregiver Community Event team received the 2023-24 Duke Presidential Award, one of the institution’s most prestigious honors that recognizes Duke employees who embody respect, trust, inclusion, discovery and excellence.
The community organizations associated with the Duke Caregiver Community Event have helped elevate the event’s profile through speaking engagements, exhibitions and sponsorships. They also have had their staff volunteer and serve on various committees.
“For the past few years, I have had the pleasure of assisting with the design and implementation of the free WELLness clinic at the Duke Caregiver Community Event, hosted by Duke Home Health, Hospice & Infusion,” Young said. “The clinic provides much-needed care for caregivers who devote so much of their time to taking care of their loved ones with little availability to take care of themselves. We bring Durham Tech Allied Health students and Griselle Guzman, an instructor, to the event to help provide clinical care. We are proud to be a supporting organization and very pleased the Duke Caregiver Community Event has received this much-deserved honor.”