Community Integration, is it never too late?

The goal of ADZU-SOM has always been clear in its mandate of enabling its medical students to fully integrate themselves to their assigned communities. Community integration is mostly designed to help PEOPLE to optimize their personal, social, and vocational competency to live successfully in the community. However, the question still looms. Is it not yet too late to achieve such endeavor?

I think not!

Although admittedly, medical students can be very busy doing their own researches and community health plans, the need to fully realize community integration is never too late to enact on this. It is inevitable to think and quite unforgiving to consider that such integration is hardly doable when medical students reason out that they barely have the time and effort to immerse themselves with the people in the community now that the prospect of graduation is just 3 months away from becoming a reality!

Make time!

Yes, making time regardless of whatever things that make the life of medical students busier and harder is the only key to a successful community integration which mind you does not take place overnight! It is a steady and a continuous process that needs both active involvement from both parties.

The medical students from Barangay Bacuyong has been conscious of not allowing a day to pass by not knowing who are these people that they seem to interact and meet almost on a daily basis. The odd or strange feeling of not even knowing their names brings a feeling of alienation and aloofness that must be counteracted with the group aiming to become more visible than ever and proactively participate in activities that allow social engagements with these people. The group came up with the idea of “Kasadya”, a 3-month long celebration of being one with the community whereby almost every month, a major activity is organized by the group fostering fun, games and never ending entertainment allowing the people in the community to be a part of their circle which initially these people thought are exclusive and unbreakable.

To date, it is a fulfilling thing to hear people say that every time the news reaches them about medical students having to return to school for updates pertaining to researches and developments related to community health plans, there is this shade of yearning coming from the people in the community that they start to miss them, that the presence of medical students in the barangay covered court seem to be a sight to behold and even doing house-to-house visits become a venue where social relationships can grow and foster.

It must not be forgotten that community integration programs involve a team approach that can include the individuals, family members and significant others, community members, medical students, health care providers among others. Since the approach puts emphasis on participation, the goal is to help improve the lives of these people while enriching the community by ensuring that each member is empowered and as independent as possible.