Become a CSSC Volunteer
You can sign up for volunteer opportunities by completing this online form (Columbia students only):
Volunteer Opportunities
VETT
Actively seeks and reviews resources for possible integration into an online and publicly available resource guide for anyone in the NYC community. Also categorizes resources by specific populations and needs.
Companionship Project
Provides virtual companionship to hospitalized patients via phone or video call.
Friendly Calls to Seniors
Outreach program to older adults in the community to provide emotional support and encouragement, and alleviate loneliness.
Virtual Advocacy Groups
Creating online spaces for identity-specific groups of CUIMC students to meet and discuss their experiences, thoughts and reflections on recent events, as well as plan and create advocacy efforts in response.
By Students For Students
Creating a safe space for students to interact and have discussions both large and small about the current climate and our roles as health professions students to care for our patients, health systems and communities but also ourselves.
Mask Check
Providing space for making masks as well as publicizing and soliciting donations as a centralized group to receive large donations of cloth masks for distribution to vulnerable populations, most recently groups that are protesting in NYC for racial justice and an end to police brutality.
ASK Alice
TBD
Colorectal Cancer Screening Project
The Colon Cancer Screening project was created to address the gap in colorectal cancer screening during the COVID-19 pandemic. Because many patients were encouraged to decrease their contact with the healthcare system, many patients due for screening are now behind. This project seeks to create a way for student volunteers to contact patients and connect them with screening options without requiring a visit to the doctor's office, thus making it more convenient for patients to access care and also decreasing the burden on doctors.
Together Apart
Created a blog for open reflection on life amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and as a member of COVID response, for CUIMC staff and faculty as well as CUIMC students.
Fam from Afar
Creating and implementing a virtual pen pal program to help connect CUIMC students in this time of isolation and disconnection.
Information Services
Produces high-quality, summarized, and digestible resources on the COVID-19 pandemic and management for patients, families, faculty, and students, and supports the technological and publishing needs of other service projects. Teams within the Information Services project include:
- Creative Communications
- Patient Education and Design
- Language Translation
- Literature Assessment and Summary
- Web Design
- Outreach
Medical Education
Works to enhance the virtual curriculum to ensure high-quality ongoing curricular experiences for preclinical medical students.
Food Insecurity
The project is supporting food-based organizations through fundraising/volunteer support.
Ambassador Program
TBD
Child Abuse Prevention
Due to the increased risk of child abuse during the pandemic, we are working on different methods to reduce and prevent abuse including a social media campaign and other more direct interventions.
Learning Together
Connects children in the community with virtual Columbia tutors/mentors to help children succeed in this time of uncertainty where they have needed to rapidly adjust to virtual learning without a structured classroom.
RENEW
Resilience Engagement Empathy Wellbeing is working to send out weekly department-specific emails centered around wellness resources in a clear and concise format to health care providers at NYP.
UPLIFT
Writing and distributing hand written letters to Correctional Health Services workers who have been forgotten from gratitude outpouring to health workers.
Adolescent Hub Youth Educational/Career Support
Working with the Uptown Adolescent Hub for the provision of one-on-one mentorship and advising for young people to get help with career preparation, school work, or other educational development.
Mexican Coalition Website Design
Assisting a local community organization with their incredible work in leading efforts to empower and serve the Mexican American community of Northern Manhattan through the creation of a website for their organization to communicate with the public about their work.
Pediatric Psychosocial Outreach Project
The Pediatric Psychosocial Outreach Project was created in order to address social determinants of health, psychosocial stressors and mental health disorders within the pediatric population during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a script, student volunteers make calls to families in order to screen for social determinants of health, psychosocial stressors and mental health issues. Volunteers are then able to connect patients with resources centered around social service needs, mental health needs, school needs, or COVID-related needs/medical questions.
Digital Equity Quality Improvement
The Digital Equity Quality Improvement Project is working to gather information about barriers to technology access faced by the patients we serve in our community. The information will then be used to better understand the barriers patients face to using telehealth platforms and other virtual services during the pandemic, and how they may contribute to health disparities. Once the information is gathered by volunteers through patient outreached, the clinic network will use it to identify and address the needs of our patients.
Retired Projects
COVID-19 Community Hotline
Provides staffing support of clinical health professionals for a community informational line about COVID-19.
OB Public Health Outreach
Reaches out to pregnant patients from the Medicaid clinic network to provide public health guidance on staying safe, logistic details on clinic and policy changes, and most importantly offer an empathetic listening ear to provide reassurance.
OB Postpartum Outreach
Medical and NP students call day 3 postpartum patients to screen for common OB and pediatric concerns.
Workforce Health and Safety
Provides staffing support for the hospital service tasked with receiving calls and following potential cases of COVID-19 among staff and providers.
Creative Communications
Works to amplify the voices of all student volunteer efforts--be it internal mental health and wellness initiatives or community-facing projects directly supporting our frontline.
PPE Task Force
Organizes procurement, donation, and manufacturing of personal protective equipment from interested parties in the community.
SummerTogether
SummerTogether is the summer learning progression of Learning Together, the virtual school year-based tutoring and mentorship program for children. Summer Together provides an online education program of classes for students based on their age group and interests to join for learning and fun throughout the summer.
AIM CHROME/DOME Telemedicine Project
The AIM Calls for High-Risk Outreach and Medical Evaluation, or CHROME program, is a telemedicine program designed to reach high-risk primary care patients unable to be seen in person due to the pandemic. Volunteers conduct a brief medical assessment, evaluate the patient's need for medical follow-up, and assess social/specialty referral and medication refill needs.
Discharge Outreach and Medical Evaluation (DOME) provides a similar set of services, plus navigation to primary care for patients who do not currently have a PMD, for patients recently discharged with a COVID diagnosis.
COVID-19 Research
Works with principal investigators who are engaged in time-sensitive COVID-19-related projects.
Telemedicine
- Telemedicine Patient Assist works with outpatient clinics to rapidly onboard patients onto institutional telehealth platforms, allowing for more efficient clinic flow and reduction in in-person encounters.
- COVID Follow-Up engages in remote monitoring of COVID-positive patients after discharge. This project uses students with clinical training and licensed supervision.
Tech Operations Support
Provides internal support through technology to CSSC administration and project leaders.
Hero Meals
Supports local restaurants and business by fundraising to employ a lean staff to provide nutritious, comforting fare to hospital staff working the front lines.