Med Students Get In Touch With Community

Dozens of Oklahoma's future doctors and physicians assistants can say they're the first to complete the summer institute at the new OU School of Community Medicine at OU-Tulsa.

The students teamed up with 30 university faculty members this week, visiting local agencies, community leaders and hospitals, to identify the top health issues that plague our community.

On Friday, they presented those findings and gave recommendations on how to fix those problems.

"I think what affected me the most were needs of young families, particularly the young mothers with young children, that if we can really help them raise their kids and get through the first couple years of life, both the mothers and those young families, those young kids are going to have a much better start in life," said Dr. Daniel Duffy of the School of Community Medicine.

Another big issue Dr. Duffy noticed was the lacking link between the elderly and the many available resources out there that they need to be healthy.

The OU School of Community Medicine is the first of its kind in the nation, and is funded by the George Kaiser Family Foundation.