The purpose of the community-oriented project/activity is to provide an opportunity for you to make an impact on the health of the community beyond the one-on-one clinic setting. This project should be discussed and arranged between you and your preceptor. We have provided some suggestions below on how to go about planning and implementing your community project/activity. We have also provided a suggested format on how to report your project to the SEARCH program. Have fun!

Planning the Project

• You can choose one of the community issues that you list in your Assessment Inventory that influence the health indicators of the community and that is of interest to you or the health center. However, choose an activity that is practical and that can be addressed and implemented during the time of your rotation.

• Formulate a simple plan and idea of how to combat this issue and discuss it with your preceptor. You may want to consult the objectives set by Healthy People 2010 to help guide you in the planning of your project. By doing so, your project may help the community and/or health center address these national long-term goals.

• You may need to contact community leaders or use community resources that can assist you with your project (if applicable). Depending on the issue you choose, you may need to implement your project through a certain community program or resource.

• Make sure your project is culturally sensitive to the target population that the problem directly affects. You may want to contact a community leader or community member that is a part of, or at least understands, the population that you are targeting with your project.

Implementing and Evaluating the Project

• You may implement your project through one (or several) of the resources in the community. This may be either through dissemination of materials at churches, presentation of a lecture at a school, giving immunizations at a community health fair, etc.

• Some sort of evaluation is helpful to see how community members can be impacted by your project. This evaluation can be a simple results/conclusion of your project.

• Once you have implemented your project, a report of the project should be written, signed by your preceptor, and submitted to the project coordinator at the Illinois Health Education Consortium. Once the report is received by IHEC, a modest stipend will be sent to you. The format for the report follows this guide.

If there are any questions, contact the SEARCH program at (312) 996-6861.