MedSIN-RUMS projects

SEDUCE

Sex Education Directed by University College Establishment (!) is a peer-led sex education project in local schools. This has been successfully run at other MedSIN groups in Sheffield and Nottingham, and was lots of fun and much appreciated by the schools. This is the first year it has been run here, but already we have strong support.

Volunteers will be trained for free by professionals, and will then go into local schools to talk to children about reproductive health, emotional issues and safe sex. SEDUCE is also open as a Friday option for first year pre-clinical students, but medics from all years can get involved.

Project Co-ordinator = Anita, a.sugavanam@ucl.ac.uk

Click here for a full project description.

We have two activities within this project.

'Primary Healthcare' is a project where you can shadow a GP in a clinic in Kings Cross which treats sex workers, drug addicts and the homeless. Email us, and we can arrange for you to visit them when convenient for you and the clinic. Lots of our members have already done this, and have said that they have got a lot out of it. Suitable for all years, and especially pre-clinical students.

CRISIS is our project where we make it easier for you to get involved with the charity's Christmas shelters. Many of our members have done this in the past.

Project Co-ordinator = Kory, karen.woo@ucl.ac.uk

Performing ArTs in Hospitals. This is in early stages, but we aim to eventually organise events where our more thespian members can entertain hospital patients! We can also get you in contact with the Whittington Hospital radio, as they are always looking for volunteers.

Another activity which we did last year was to help organise a Christmas party for local homeless and refugee children. This was very successful - some of our members dressed up as cats, clowns and angels to entertain the kids, and John Lewis donated presents. We would love to do this again in the future!

Project Co-ordinator = Kory, karen.woo@ucl.ac.uk

This is a project going on all over the world, and we are involved in it also. Last year we collected books from our libraries at UCL which were no longer needed, and these were sent to medical schools in Palestine, where medical textbooks are scarce. This year we are hoping to do the same for another country.

Project Co-ordinator = Seni, s.mylvaganam@ucl.ac.uk

Click here for a full project description.

A brand new exciting project! We have managed to reach an arrangement with Childline to get 6 1st year clinical students per year trained up as telephone counsellors. There is a big commitment, but the help you would give to Childline, and the thousands of disadvantaged children they assist every year, would be very much appreciated.

The training is a reduced course, and consists of four weekends in a row, followed by at least four hours per week on the phone lines for the rest of the year.

Project Co-ordinator = Ella, e.rachamim@ucl.ac.uk

Many refugees seeking asylum in the UK are shoved into disgusting living condtitions in the darkest bits of London, and virtually forgotten about. Do these people deserve this treatment, or should they be treated as equals? Last year we had a couple of members visit asylum seekers in London, and helped them to fill in questionnaires which would hopefully reveal the poor conditions they were living in, and these would be used to force the Government into giving them better accommodation.

This year we are no longer running this project, but we have a number of ideas for new refugee-based projects which are being pursued. Want to help refugees? Any ideas or contacts? Join us!

Project Co-ordinator = Suneil, s.aggarwal@ucl.ac.uk

Click here for a full project description.

You may well have heard about this huge International campaign to wipe out Third World debt by the millennium. This would throw a lifeline to many of the worlds most deprived countries, who are suffering from past corrupt leaders. The relief from their debt would allow them to spend more on healthcare and education, saving millions of lives every year.

We encourage our members and other medical students to get involved in the campaign, and can provide you with information about the progress of it.

Project Co-ordinator = Sarah, s.finer@ucl.ac.uk

Help us design a medical curriculum which incorporates important health issues which will contribute to the multicultural society which exists now and in the future. We, as future doctors, all need a Global Vision of health problems, and our curriculum should address this.

We have had some success already with this, in our RUMS course. Future students will see the benefits. We are working in collaboration with an organisation of doctors called MedACT, who have put together a pack of information which includes courses and Special Study Modules on Global Health issues.

Project Co-ordinator = Vic, v.wykes@ucl.ac.uk

Medical students' Basic Information Technology Education is a project which aims to increase the level of confidence with use of computers in the health profession. We believe that many medical students lack some basic computer skills which may be required in their career, and even more do not realise the full potential of IT in medicine.

This will be an ongoing project where units on different areas will be run by peer tutors. The emphasis will be on the sheer basics, so that students can go on to teach themselves and to become more confident with their use. We need volunteers who are relatively skilled with computers, and also have good people skills to help their colleagues. We also need feedback from students so that we can design a good course.

Project Co-ordinator = Chris, christopher.hopkins@ucl.ac.uk

Click here for a full project description.

One of the major issues we are interested in is reproductive health and AIDS. As you may or may not know, World AIDS Day is on December 1st, and is a great way of increasing awareness about safe sex, and having a laugh!

This year, MedSIN-RUMS are organising a week of events to coincide with WAD, and includes AIDS related films, a concert/party, themed cocktails @ Huntley Street and some guest speakers at a special seminar.

Project Co-ordinator = Jay, jaycornwall79@hotmail.com