Pick Up Sports and Health: A Service-Learning Model to Promote Health Literacy and Health Careers among School-Aged Children in Northern Manhattan: Q&A and Discussion

Proposal: Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) resides in Washington Heights, a vibrant largely Latinx community. Recent statistics show that despite Latinx and Black individuals representing over 30% of the US population, only 12% of physicians identify as such. To address this disparity and promote health equity in Northern Manhattan, sports can serve as a valuable tool to encourage underrepresented students to pursue post-secondary education and careers in healthcare. Pick Up Sports and Health (P.U.S.H) is a service-learning organization that invites health professions students (“coaches”) at CUIMC to provide bi-monthly after-school educational programming to school-aged children (SAC) in Washington Heights and Harlem with the goal of improving health literacy and increasing awareness of health careers. In partnership with the New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, health professions students design and facilitate age-appropriate and culturally sensitive health lessons. Examples include 1) the effects of exercise on heart health 2) the impacts of smoking on lung physiology and 3) the risks of sweetened beverages on diabetes development. Events are consistently refined based on feedback from coaches, participants, and parents. We are collecting data to evaluate participants' satisfaction with the program, as well as its impact on behavior change and health career aspirations.

The success of this program lies in its close partnerships with existing community-based organizations that are familiar with the needs and strengths of the Northern Manhattan community. P.U.S.H. events are consistently held at neighboring public schools and community centers, allowing over 75 volunteer coaches from a variety of health professions schools to meaningfully engage in longitudinal service-learning reaching over 200 SAC. The success and sustainability of P.U.S.H. has demonstrated that this two-part model of pick-up sports/games accompanied by culturally sensitive health topics is a well-received, low-cost, and sustainable service-learning model for improving health literacy and exposing youth to health careers.

Expertise of Collaborators
Joshua Dawson, BS, Mansi Shah, BA, Michelle Batlle, MEd, Kevin Crosby, MPH, Jude T. Okonkwo, AB, and Shawn Simmons, BA are medical students at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S). Tina Ting, MPH is a graduate of Columbia Mailman School of Public Health. Coach Dave Crenshaw is a community activist in Washington Heights for over 30 years. Julie Glickstein, MD is the group’s faculty advisor and pediatric cardiologist at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York.