Students Assist America Calls for Student Volunteers in Connecticut

Students Assist America Calls for Student Volunteers in Connecticut

The inter-professional effort Students Assist America (SAA) is working to engage health professions students in meaningful ways across the country. SAA is working on a state-by-state basis to establish coordinated programs for student participation. The most recent call is to encourage optometric students to get involved in Connecticut's response to the pandemic. 

Students Assist America is a collaborative of 11 national health professions education organizations that have come together in a call to action across the state.

They have two major goals:

1. To enable talented and dedicated students to safely supplement the healthcare workforce during times of crisis, and
2. Connect students with agencies such as the Medical Reserve Corps in Connecticut to create educational experiences that can help them maintain their clinical education or service learning for the months and years ahead.

SAA is pleased to be working across professions to bring together medical, nursing, physician assistant, social work, veterinary medicine, public health, pharmacy, optometry, dentistry and dental hygiene, and psychology students with unique skills to learn with and from each other as they engage in organized Medical Reserve Corps opportunities.

With the approaching flu season and anticipation of a COVID vaccine, Students Assist America is especially focused on having trained, supervised students participate in mass vaccination efforts, as they have during other outbreaks such as tuberculosis and H1N1. There is also a clear, heightened need for an expanded mental health workforce in this country, and SAA is helping to promote awareness that students with these skills can help with activities such as screening and staffing hotlines.   

Students (and faculty) in Connecticut can register to sign up to help here.