GSDM Puts Community First During BU Global Days of Service
(Photo Credit: Dan Bomba, GSDM.)
Boston University’s Global Days of Service is a widely anticipated, annual university-wide month of community service opportunities that encourages students, residents, faculty, staff, and alumni to give back to their local, national, and international communities.
From preparing home-delivered meals to donating blood, the GSDM community gave back in a host of ways during the 2023 Global Days of Service, which was held from March 27 to May 7. Kathy Lituri, clinical assistant professor of health policy & health services research, said connecting to local communities is an essential part of being a dental professional, and she is always pleased to see new and returning members of the GSDM community patriciate year after year in this University event.
“Dentistry’s a people profession,” Lituri said. “I mean, it doesn’t get much more people specific than dentistry, and if you can’t interact out in a community setting, or talk to people, or get to know people or listen to people or see what’s going on… most dentists need to have those skills.”
Here are some highlights from a few of the events that GSDM community members participated in.
Community Services, a nonprofit organization located in Jamaica Plains, specializes in providing home-delivered meals and nutrition services to individuals and families across Massachusetts living with critical and chronic illnesses such as HIV/AIDS, diabetes, cancer, and kidney disease. During this year’s Global Days of Service, GSDM had four different sessions at Community Services, during which volunteers helped the nonprofit’s kitchen team prepare upcoming meals.
As the 2022-2023 Student National Dental Association (SNDA) Community Service Chair, Torea Aina DMD 24 said she was eager to be the group leader for the SNDA session at Community Services on April 7.
“I strive to create opportunities to serve, whether as a leader or a participant,” Aina said. “Giving back to my community has always been of utmost importance to me. In my personal statement when I applied to dental school, I wrote ‘in addition to my determination to thrive, I believe my community should thrive as well.’ This is a mission I hope to live up to. As a future dentist, I admire the work they do because our oral health is directly intertwined with our overall health.”
This was her second time working at Community Services. She said her experience was so fulfilling that she motivated to return the following Friday with the American Association of Public Health Dentistry to volunteer again.
“This is an experience that fuels the soul,” Aina said. “Knowing that you are working to better the life of someone else is an amazing experience.”
The Massachusetts Hispanic Dental Association worked with the Hispanic Dental Student Associations at GSDM, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, and Tufts University School of Dental Medicine to pull together volunteers for a joint session at Community Services on April 14. Dr. Gladys Carrasco PEDO 2020, GSDM clinical assistant professor of general dentistry, and the 2023 president of the Massachusetts Hispanic Dental Association, said it was an amazing time being the GSDM group leader. She enjoyed seeing how Community Services operated and learned how much they rely on volunteers to make it successful.
“I chose Community Services because their mission is to provide medically tailored, nutritious meals to chronically ill people and their families,” Carrasco said. “This resonates a lot for me, as a health care provider, we often care for individuals with different medical conditions and it is very rewarding to know that I can not only help maintaining their good oral health, but also, continue supporting maintaining their overall well-being by volunteering prepping their food in organizations such as Community Servings.”
Throughout the session, Carrasco rotated through different stations ranging from packing frozen meals for people living with diabetes to measuring soup into containers and then labeling them.
“There is always something to do, and help is greatly needed,” Carrasco said.
Pine Street Inn, located only a few blocks away from GSDM, is New England’s largest homeless services provider. Their mission is to end homelessness by making permanent housing a reality for all.
On April 25 and 29, members from the GSDM community worked either on kitchen prep or dinner meal service as part of Pine Street Inn’s comprehensive programing.
Both Savannah Thaw DMD 26 and Jillian Rivera DMD 26 helped serve trays of food during the Saturday dinner meal service.
Thaw said it was an excellent opportunity to connect with people in the school’s neighborhood.
“I think it gives us a good idea of everyone in our community who we could possibly [work with,]” Thaw said.
Rivera is looking forward to going back to Pine Street Inn to volunteer again.
“It just feels good to do something when we’re always getting something,” Rivera said. “I feel like we’re so lucky every day. Little things help other people.”
On May 2, the Boston University Medical Campus held its Spring Blood Drive in Hiebert Lounge.
Lea Romano DMD 25 worked at the event’s check-in table.
“We have such limited time in our schedules and just being able to build something in and give back to the community,” Romano said. “We already want to serve. That’s part of healthcare, and just being able to give more to the community than we can with our given schedules. And I like that they have these events that sort of fit into our schedule to give us the opportunity.”
Additional events throughout the month included walking as part of the Relay for Life Team Smiles for Miles with the GSDM American Student Dental Association, creating care packages for Rosie’s Place and doing brushing and flossing demonstrations at Boston Inclusion Celebration with Special Olympics.