This summer, Hiba Dhanani '14 is working at a Center for Peace and Global Citizenship-funded internship at the Lankenau Clinical Care Center (LCCC). The LCCC is currently working to become a patient-centered medical home, which means that it will be equipped with social workers, financial counselors and case workers, as well as the traditional physicians and nurses. According to Dhanani, this will make it possible to address all the factors in a patient's life—such as living environment, work environment and nutrition choices—that lead to disease, instead of strictly the medical ones.

Dhanani's days at the LCCC have included shadowing professionals, visiting patients and preparing for the upcoming change by creating brochures and inputting survey data. She has also been a part of the Greater Public Health Internship Program, through which she has seen a laparoscopic cholecystectomy surgery, attended lectures on leadership and healthcare, and tutored students at Overbrook High School.

Dhanani became interested in the program after participating in the Social Medicine Seminar last summer. Last January she took part in an externship at the Children's Hospital in Boston, which increased her interest in clinical care.

The two things that surprised her the most about the work have been the number of people on Medicare and Medicaid and the large number of patients presenting with preventable diseases, such as Type 2 diabetes. The new clinic will have better resources to counter the causes of these sorts of maladies, such as exercise classes and nutrition education.“I'm impressed by how much the clinic wants to be seen as an everyday resource for patients,” she says,“and I think both patients and healthcare providers will benefit from such a partnership.”

Although she will be finished with her internship before the LCCC completes its transition into a patient-centered medical home, Dhanani looks forward to visiting later next fall and seeing the change's effect on the patients and staff.

--Jack Hasler ‘15