Alumni, students, faculty, and guests gathered last week to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Community Health Program (CHP). Speakers and faculty reflected on the history of the CHP and reminisced about their personal experiences with the program during the main event Friday afternoon in Barnum Hall.
In his opening address, University President John DiBiaggio emphasized that the CHP's goal of encouraging students to be active and engaged citizens plays an important role in helping the University realize its mission. "The CHP is a mandate I believe we have at this institution," he said "It takes programs like Community Health to remind folks to give a little something back to the community."
The CHP is designed for students who are interested in health and health care. Students who take the eight required courses receive a certificate in recognition of their work, but must also complete a regular department major.
Two events contributed to formation of the community health program on campus, according to speaker Dr. Jack Geiger, the former chair of the department of preventive medicine at Tufts' medical school. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, a community health program was created at the Nelson Mandela School for Medicine - a school for non-white students in the Zulu Tribal Reserve region of South Africa. Ten health centers were erected in rural and urban areas around the region, and as word of success spread during the 1960s, a CHP was created in Mississippi.
In response to the deaths of three activists who encouraged the implementation of a community health program, the Medical Community for Human Rights was formed to provide assistance and protection for black and white activists. Its task, to recruit interested volunteers for its efforts, was risky because of the racism, social stigmas, and stereotypes of rampant at the time.
Meanwhile, a community action program was flowering at Tufts. But merging this program with the one in Mississippi was not easy because of concerns of impoverished people in the Boston area and the white powers in Mississippi. To quell widespread anxieties, Tufts' community health participants implemented a public housing project in downtown Boston, where 8-10,000 apartments were built. They were met with much opposition from whites when they tried to do the same in Mississippi, but they eventually built centers in the areas of Palaila and LeMontville.
Five additional centers were opened nationwide.
The Tufts Medical Center has been instrumental in the success of the community health programs, according to Geiger, and Tufts contributes $10-25,000 every year to the program. Scholarship funds are set aside for remarkable students in the hopes that they too will continue the traditions started by their predecessors.
"We're focusing on social change in the medical field," Geiger said. "The communities that the CHP works with are tap-full of human talent, resourcefulness, strength, and motivation. The main thing is to look beyond the formalities of treating patients and realize that this is a partnership between whole communities and those involved in the health professions."
Bernard Harleston, a senior associate at the New England Resource Center for Higher Education's Graduate College of Education at the University of Massachusetts-Boston and former dean of arts and sciences at Tufts University, shed light on the rise of the CHP at Tufts. The CHP was one out of four interdisciplinary programs that was created to encourage interdisciplinary study for undergraduates.
The program aspired to broaden Tufts' curriculum to encompass issues of community, health, applied politics, and diplomacy, and to engage students and faculty in thinking about interdisciplinary studies, activities, and programs. Students became the CHP's main focus, as it endeavored to give them a chance to take active roles within the University make their academic education more meaningful.
"It was clear that these sorts of efforts were the ones that would open up the arena for student opportunity," Harleston said.
Strong faculty leadership was key to the development of the program, which emphasized the commitment of students to conflict resolution, according to Harleston.
Seymour Bellin, professor emeritus and former director of the CHP, brought smiles and laughs from his audience when he said that his primary objective during his work with the program was "to always look for reasons why programs in health policy don't work." He also emphasized the importance of maintaining a deep dedication to the creation of community health in communities nationwide.
LeRoy Charles, a graduate of the first Tufts CHP class in 1976, gave a heartfelt personal reflection of his involvement in CHP, and thanked Tufts for its moral support and for having bestowed him with values with which he's resolved to continue the tradition.
"Community health is a passion," Charles said. "You must do it with the goal of giving back to the community. It's not about wearing a suit and looking important on a stage - it's about giving back and going out on a limb to serve those in need."
Like the speakers, students at the CHP afternoon event praised the program for its emphasis on involvement in the community. "Having participated in the program for the last four years, it's been a really important part of my experience to witness the evolution of the CHP and expose myself to the lessons it strives to teach not only to those directly involved in community health, but to the Tufts community in general," senior Gillian Galen said.
The Friday event was the culmination of a week-long celebration of the CHP anniversary. Movies related to health issues were screened throughout the week, and Friday was designated as community health day across campus.
