Healthcare Simulations
Call for Mentors: Help Future Health Professionals by Sharing your Story!
Do you want to make a difference in the lives of future healthcare workers? Are you ready to share your experience and perspective as someone who has lived with a disability? If so, we'd love for you to apply to be a mentor in our training programs for health sciences students and professionals.
Who we are
Our goal is to help future healthcare workers learn about the different challenges people with disabilities face. We want to make healthcare more welcoming, understanding, and compassionate for everyone.
Role overview
As a mentor, you'll work with students and professionals in health sciences through training sessions, discussions, and workshops. By sharing your personal experiences, you'll help them learn about patient-centered care and how to make people with disabilities feel more welcomed and supported.
Who we are looking for
We are looking for people with the following lived experiences:
- Amputees: Share your experience with mobility, the healthcare system, and how you and providers have adapted to get your needs met.
- Wheelchair users: Talk about accessibility, independence, and living with mobility challenges.
- People with limited vision: Offer insights on navigating healthcare settings and communication.
- People with hearing impairments: Help others understand the importance of clear communication and accessibility in healthcare.
Key responsibilities
- Share your story and experiences in training sessions and workshops.
- Join discussions and activities that help others understand the challenges faced by people with disabilities.
- Offer advice on how to communicate and care for people with disabilities.
- Work with program leaders to create training materials that represent a variety of experiences.
Why become a mentor?
- Help others: Guide the next generation of healthcare professionals.
- Share your story: Help future healthcare workers be more empathetic and understanding by sharing your unique experience.
- Build connections: Meet other professionals who care about increasing access to services and making a difference.
- Make a difference: Change how healthcare students think about and treat people with disabilities.
How to apply
If you're interested in becoming a mentor, please send us:
- Your name and contact information.
- A short paragraph about why you want to mentor health sciences students.
We look forward to hearing from you and working together to create a better healthcare environment for all!
For more information or to be considered for mentorship opportunities, please email Dr. Lesley Cottrell.
WVU STEPS Center Simulation Trainings
The WVU Family Experience and Delivery of Chronic Care (DOCC) project simulation launched in the spring of 2019. The simulation experience for Pediatric and Family Medicine residents, Pharmacy, and Nursing trainees was created by parents of children with special health care needs working side-by-side with faculty to impact the way they deliver patient care. Support for this project comes from funding provided by Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
The Not Your Standard Patient project simulation provides third year medical students an opportunity to learn disability etiquette prior to beginning patient care. The Simulation consists of a lecture, simulated disability related cases, and personal experience discussions with a panel of professionals and individuals with disabilities.
Both of these trainings are held in the WVU Steps Center which provides experiential learning to health care professionals to improve their skills.
Seeking Families to Educate Future Healthcare Professionals
The West Virginia Family-to-Family Health Information Center (F2F-HIC) would like to invite past and current parents/caregivers of children with special health care needs to serve as parent team members for the WVU Project DOCC (Delivery of Chronic Care). In these virtual simulations for students from the School of Medicine, School of Nursing, and School of Pharmacy, trained parent team members share their caregiving experiences and their personal journey in receiving medical care. After participating in a 60-minute online WVUCED Parent Team training course, parents/caretakers will be eligible to co-facilitate with WVU faculty from the comfort of their own home in presenting live 2-hour virtual experiences for WVU learners and future medical professionals. Parent team members are provided a stipend of $60 each time they participate.
To be eligible to participate, you must:
- Be a past or current parent or legal guardian of a child with a disorder that affects multiple organ systems and requires some form of life-supporting equipment.
- Attend a 60-minute Project DOCC parent training course
To schedule a training or get more information, contact Tina Crook, Parent Network Specialist at tina.crook@hsc.wvu.edu, or call 304-860-9037.