This October, the Ross Medical Education Center campus in Roosevelt Park, Michigan took part in Domestic Violence Awareness Month. At the beginning of the month, the campus welcomed Jasmine Young from Every Woman’s Place and Javi Hernandez from Webster House Youth Services. They invited representatives from both of these Muskegon area organizations to come and bring awareness to these issues to the Ross staff, faculty, and students.
As future healthcare professionals, Ross students will likely encounter patients who are victims of abuse or even children that are homeless as they enter and work in their chosen career field. Lisa Picard, Ross Campus Director in Roosevelt Park, shared a little bit about her motivation in having these representatives come, “we are committed to equip our students with community resources so that they have the knowledge of those resources and have the ability to refer to outside agencies.” This is a very real and serious need in today’s healthcare field.
In fact, according to Every Woman’s Place’s website, “national studies show that one in four women will experience abuse by a significant other in their lifetime, while almost one third of all murdered women are killed by an intimate partner.” In addition, their site also states that “about 50,000 youth in the U.S. sleep on the street for six months or more.” In order to help combat this problem, Every Woman’s Place provides free community resources such as shelter, counseling and crisis intervention, advocacy and support services, group services, volunteer services and training, education, and awareness. Webster House Youth Services provides residential short and long term programs, support services, outreach services, and volunteer services to the youth of the community.
During the presentations, the students were asking questions and very engaged in the conversation. Everyone present was thankful for the opportunity to learn more about what Muskegon County has to offer. This is a resource that will assist students in becoming more valuable members of the community in addition to having the knowledge and resources available for referrals in the future.
To learn more, visit the Every Woman’s Place Facebook page or website at www.everywomansplace.org and the Webster House Youth Services website at www.websterhouseyouthservices.org.