Serving others is a guiding principle of becoming — and being — a physician. Knowing that the COVID-19 pandemic would negatively impact members of the surrounding community, CCLCM students eagerly got involved in a web-based grassroots organization called Cleveland Pandemic Response — COVID-19 community hub. This organization helps connect resources to people in need and then matches volunteers to provide or deliver those resources. Daniel Moussa (’21) serves as the chair.
Some examples of how the organization has helped community members include picking up prescriptions, delivering groceries and toilet paper (the team fielded a request from an Australian man to deliver toilet paper to his mother-in-law who lives in Cleveland!), helping people apply for unemployment, helping families avoid eviction, and making face masks for hospital workers and first responders.
Within the first months of the pandemic, the community hub grew to include nearly 200 volunteers or volunteer groups, and the hub has served more than 150 people or communities. The volunteer base is widely diverse, comprising undergraduate and professional students, nurses, lawyers, administrative staff and teachers, to name but a few.
The community hub’s work was featured on Cleveland’s ideastream in a segment entitled “Cleveland Mutual Aid Volunteers Hope To Fill In Gaps In Pandemic Response.”
CCLCM Responds to COVID-19 