Medical Spanish

The Medical Spanish initiative builds capacity among future and current healthcare professionals to engage successfully with patients and community stakeholders in multilingual and multicultural settings.

Through a generous gift from the Batten Educational Achievement Fund of the Hampton Roads Community Foundation, the EVMS Spanish Bilingual Clinician Certificate & Longitudinal Medical Spanish Community-Engaged Learning initiative is a multifaceted program that incorporates a language curriculum recognized by the National Institutes of Health to facilitate medical Spanish fluency in health professionals in Hampton Roads and beyond.  

Our medical and health professions students complete an online medical Spanish curriculum, participate in on-campus medical Spanish classes, support a bilingual student-run free clinic for uninsured Spanish-speaking community members, enjoy monthly lunch-and-learn sessions with community mentors, facilitate health fairs within our local Hispanic community, participate in collaborative research with Spanish-speaking community partners locally and internationally, enjoy local Latin-American cultural events, celebrations and Spanish home dinners, and have the opportunity to engage in international medical Spanish immersion, research and clinical service missions.

Medical French

The Medical French initiative builds capacity among future and current healthcare professionals to engage successfully with patients and community stakeholders in multilingual and multicultural settings. In collaboration with the Norfolk Chapter of the Alliance Française, EVMS students complete a customized two-year medical French curriculum that culminates in a bilingual clinician certification. Hampton Roads is home to a large underserved Francophone community, including Congolese refugees and Haitian immigrants. The EVMS Medical French Initiative serves to support meaningful engagement within these communities, in addition to partnerships with Francophone patients and community advocates worldwide.

The multi-faceted program consists of weekly language classes taught by native French language instructors, French conversation groups, engagement in the Global Health Community Narrative Series, local clinical outreach and community engagementcultural exposure and opportunities for collaborative research and training in international Francophone settings, including Haiti and Senegal.

This initiative aims to improve health quality and access for Francophone communities worldwide by supporting the effective communication, cultural awareness and commitment of the physicians and health care professionals who seek to serve and partner with these communities.

Refugee Health

Global conflicts and natural disasters have contributed to the growth of refugee populations around the world and in our local community. Refugees are at risk for a number of medical and mental health conditions, in addition to sociocultural and language differentials that may act as barriers to health care. Students participate in the process of identifying the unique health needs of our local refugee population and work with the Newport News Refugee Settlement and community partners to improve the health of the refugee population in Hampton Roads.

The Refugee Health initiative, established in 2017, facilitates the engagement of students and faculty with community partners to identify and address the unique health needs of the local refugee population. Students work with regional partners including Commonwealth Catholic Charities, the local federally-appointed refugee resettlement center, and NGOs such as Hampton Roads Refugee Relief. Through education, research, and service, students acquire competence, humility, and awareness in serving refugee patients. All opportunities are developed and sustained collaboratively in response to community-identified needs. Through the EVMS Refugee Health Initiative, students facilitate health fairs that provide health screenings and improved access to specialty care, health education and opportunities for community engagement, in addition to formal evaluation of current and future community health needs.

This initiative specifically aims to:

• Introduce students to the particularities of refugee health and resettlement programs and the study of refugee health topics as they are related to local economic, geographic and demographic factors in Hampton Roads.
• Collaborate with staff of the Newport News Refugee Settlement organization and other community partners to evaluate and directly address health needs of local refugee community through realization of service-learning experiences such as health fairs that contribute to community integration.
• Acquire competence and familiarity serving refugee patients through experience of medical, dental and mental health issues, cultural perceptions and societal barriers to healthcare experienced by refugee community.
• Enhance awareness and promote change in students’ attitudes toward medical/mental health issues common to refugees and related to the process of resettlement.
• Support students’ acquisition of knowledge and experience of refugee health issues locally and worldwide and reinforce the growth of the EVMS Service-Learning Program as a vital component of the institution’s community focus.