Stories of Service
Brody Greenleaf- Promoting Healthy Futures
As a first-year member at a first-year host site, Brody Greenleaf is blazing a trail for future AmeriCorps member success at UPMC Altoona Family Physicians (AFP). Brody became familiar with the AmeriCorps program after his sister served. This experience serves as a gap year for Brody between his undergraduate career and medical school- what a perfect fit! Read more about the great work Brody is doing in our Q&A below.
Q: What do you hope to gain from you AmeriCorps experience?
A: “Overall, I hope to gain an awareness of the barriers in my community related to career development, particularly in entering the health professions. I want to better understand how to engage and motivate students of all different backgrounds, which will help in the success of the program at AFP but also in my future career as a physician. More than this, I hope to finish my term with an understanding of my community’s health disparities and the projects that various organizations are implementing to address them. Professionally speaking, I want to continue building my network of colleagues within PMSC, AFP, and the surrounding community.”
Q: Tell us more about the work that you are doing at your host site.
A: “Because this is the first time that AFP has had an AmeriCorps member, I have had the opportunity to start two programs from scratch. The first is the Health Careers Exploration Program, which offers students shadowing opportunities at the clinic. Before students shadow a physician, we have a discussion about professionalism, expectations for students in medical settings, and privacy laws. Following their morning in the clinic, we have a debriefing session where students share their experiences seeing patients with the doctors. We also discuss their career goals and what their next steps are for achieving them. It was gratifying to see the excitement of the first student – her fascination with anatomy, the doctors, and the behind-the-scenes of a doctor’s office. This student, in particular, stood out as a future leader of the community.
Another highlight of the first half of my term was attending the Family Medicine Education Consortium in Lancaster, a conference for family physicians and students across the northeastern US. At this conference, I participated in round-table discussions with family medicine leaders to create the Pennsylvania Alliance, an initiative aimed at starting Health Professions Affinity Communities (HPACs) across the state. As an AmeriCorps member, I am serving as a leader of the PA Alliance and starting Pennsylvania’s first HPACs in Blair County. Our goal is to help students identify pressing health needs and develop improvement projects to address them. We hope to inspire engaged community members that will continue serving their communities after obtaining an education.
Currently, I’m working with educators to establish HPACs within local high schools. I’m also in the beginning stages of planning a family medicine summer camp for students that will provide an in-depth learning experience in a medical setting. My goal for the end of my term is to have created many different tactics for engaging students. I hope to instill in them that they are able to pursue careers in the health professions and that AFP and AmeriCorps will help them in any way possible. As these programs mature, I hope that we will have a well-established pipeline to the health professions. In the long term, I hope to see more home-grown healthcare professionals in the local area, as I believe this will ultimately improve the region’s quality of healthcare.”
Q: How has your service thus far impacted your life?
A: “As a recent graduate and medical school applicant, AmeriCorps served as a gap-year position. I believe this position was the best way to bridge my undergraduate career and medical school. Because my host site is directly related to my career field, I have received lots of mentorship from the faculty at AFP. For example, before a medical school interview, one of the faculty members (an alum from the school I was interviewing at) offered interview prep and worked with me on some typical interview questions. With her help and the guidance of others, I was accepted to multiple medical schools. Similarly, I’ve learned a great deal about the residency application process and match since AFP is recruiting next year’s family medicine residents.
Beyond career development, I have become a better-engaged community member. By being a mentor, I feel like I’m helping students who don’t think they are smart enough to pursue a health profession or don’t have the support network to set big goals. AmeriCorps allows me to show them that health careers aren’t as hard as they seem from the start. Five years ago, I was in the exact same shoes as the students that I work with, and in a few months, I’ll be starting my medical education. Overall, I feel that AmeriCorps has helped in my career development and has made me a more community-minded person, which I will carry with me in my next steps.”
Q: Is there is any other information you’d like to share about your AmeriCorps journey?
A: “PMSC has provided ample opportunities to serve outside of my host site. Some of my favorite memories were keeping time at a checkpoint for the GAP Trail Relay and helping with the Needy Children Shopping Tour during Christmastime. I volunteered at the Special Olympics Polar Plunge and helped with the Special Olympics Winter Games, joining in the excitement at the Opening Ceremony. These opportunities have been a great way to learn about what’s happening in the community and interact with other AmeriCorps members.”