Spring 2023 Updates: Van Clinics are up and Running
SHOP is excited to continue another semester of volunteering this spring. Over the holidays, board was busy with transitioning into the new semester and working on some excited clinic updates. SHOP took on two new volunteers (yay!) and are excited to get started volunteering. We are excited to begin shifts on 1/17 in addition to the SHAMS clinic continuing to run on Mondays from 3-6PM.
In February, we began running our first van clinics to our shelters. Staffed by a Penn Medicine physician, the van provides vaccines, glucose tests, and initial workups. Read more about our van clinics here! In April we ran our first move-out drive to collect clothing and other gently used items from students leaving campus to donate to our partners. We are happy to have donated lots of goods to our partners! As the semester came to a close, Board was excited to announce the new board for 2023-2024. Just as we did last summer, SHOP will continue to run shifts throughout the summer and, for the first time, we will be running two of our committees throughout the summer to continue our work. We are looking forward to an exciting fall and we want to give a special thanks to all of our partners and volunteers who made this the best year for SHOP yet! |
Fall 2022 Updates: Community Clinic to Open September 2022
Summer 2022 Updates
After a successful year volunteering at our shelters, we transitioned SHOP for the 2022-2023 academic year. We are excited to announce our new 2022-2023 board led by co-presidents Isabella and Tom. Clarisa remained on board as the engagement chair and we expanded board to include a finance position that is being led by Grant, who previously led development. Four SHOP volunteer joined board for the first time: Emily as operations, Shobhit as the clinic lead, Ray as on-site coordinator, and Neha as development.
Over the summer we worked to prepare SHOP for the Fall 2022 semester. We expanded our outreach to St. John's Place and will be returning back to the Bethesda Project at Our Brother' Place. For the first time we also kept shifts running throughout the summer at Chosen 300 Lancaster, Chosen 300 Spring Garden, and St. John's Place. Lastly, we collaborated with the SHAMS clinic in West Philadelphia as well as with Penn physicians to finalize plans for the SHAMS x SHOP. We are so excited to bring more accessible health resources to the SHAMS clinic and to further SHOP's outreach. Stay tuned for more information!
Over the summer we worked to prepare SHOP for the Fall 2022 semester. We expanded our outreach to St. John's Place and will be returning back to the Bethesda Project at Our Brother' Place. For the first time we also kept shifts running throughout the summer at Chosen 300 Lancaster, Chosen 300 Spring Garden, and St. John's Place. Lastly, we collaborated with the SHAMS clinic in West Philadelphia as well as with Penn physicians to finalize plans for the SHAMS x SHOP. We are so excited to bring more accessible health resources to the SHAMS clinic and to further SHOP's outreach. Stay tuned for more information!
Spring 2022 Updates
SHOP is currently volunteering in-person at Chosen 300 Lancaster, Chosen 300 Spring Garden, and Feast Incarnate. Volunteers provide blood pressure screenings, serving meals, and directing guests to health contacts. Committees include policy & outcomes, marketing & education, and fundraising & donations. We are currently working with law students at Penn Law to help make SHOP into a non-profit and look forward to progress in the coming months!
- Winter & Spring Clothing Donation Drive (Fall 2021)
- Educational Pamphlets
- COVID Vaccine Card Replacements
Projects for Progress 2021!
Granted with the 2021 inaugural Penn Projects for Progress, an up to $100,000 prize to launch a Community Family Care Clinic (CFCC) serving the womens, maternal, and family health needs of PEH in West Philadelphia
COVID-19 Updates (Fall 2020 - Spring 2021)
After our in person operations came to a halt in March 2020, we knew we had a duty to our partners to still provide services however we could to stay true to our mission of sustainability. Our members have been hard at work creating partnerships between community businesses & our partner shelters, designing health educational pamphlets, working on quality & outcome surveys to asses the efficacy of education pamphlets, and engaging with health policy & advocacy experts.
Chosen 300
Donations procured:
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Bethesda Project
Donations procured:
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Feast Incarnate
Donations procured:
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- Launched Quality and Outcomes initiative to track SHOP’s impact, obtained IRB-exempt status to conduct surveys on health perception in the West Philadelphia Community.
- Collaborated with Reclaim Philadelphia during the pandemic to co-write a Medicaid for All lobbying document, advocating for improved healthcare access for PEH
- Produced and distributed thousands of educational pamphlets on COVID-19 safety and preventative health, connected partner shelters and meal sites to weekly food partners, provided PPE, and essential winter items, connected partners with $6,000 in monetary donations, and more.
Blood Pressure Screenings
SHOP volunteers currently provide blood pressure screenings to PEH at our partnered shelters. The objective of blood pressure readings is not to diagnose PEH with hypertension or make medical recommendations, but rather to build consistent trust and relationships in the community (between volunteer and PEH) and empower individuals to track their own health and seek care.