SAN ANTONIO (July 21, 2015) — The Baptist Health Foundation of San Antonio is providing awards of more than $350,000 to support student community service learning initiatives and student scholarships at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
The Center for Medical Humanities & Ethics at the Health Science Center will use a three-year $121,000 renewal grant to enhance education through community service learning projects. Service learning is a structured educational experience that combines community service with mentored preparation and reflection. Students provide health-related service in response to community-identified concerns and learn about the context in which illness develops, the connection between their service and their academic coursework, and their roles as citizens and professionals.
The Baptist Health Foundation of San Antonio also is providing $237,700 for student scholarships in the Health Science Center’s School of Nursing, School of Medicine, School of Dentistry and School of Health Professions, and for the UT Austin/UT Health Science Center collaborative clinical pharmacy program. The scholarships will be awarded to students whose permanent residence is in Bexar County or seven surrounding counties.
Making a difference in the community
More than 1,500 students across the Health Science Center take part in community service learning projects annually, spending an estimated 19,000 hours to serve nearly 14,000 people.
“We are dedicated to teaching our students that tending to patients’ needs requires more than simply knowing the facts of an illness or intricacies of a procedure,” said Ruth Berggren, M.D., FACP, director of the Center for Medical Humanities & Ethics. “As health professionals, we need to appreciate how the unique circumstances of a life can impact health, and we must never forget that each patient is a human being deserving treatment with respect and compassion.
“Through community service learning, our students internalize these ideas while putting ethical principles into action in our community. Together with the Baptist Health Foundation of San Antonio, we are changing the landscape of health care in San Antonio and South Texas, now and for generations to come,” Dr. Berggren said.
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, one of the country’s leading health sciences universities, ranks in the top 13 percent of academic institutions receiving National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding. The university’s schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions and graduate biomedical sciences have produced more than 31,000 graduates. The $787.7 million operating budget supports eight campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. For more information on the many ways “We make lives better®,” visit www.uthscsa.edu.