Student service group “Dastan-e-Mehr”

During my years of medical school in Iran, I co-founded and led a student service group named “Dastan-e-Mehr”. We gathered a group of healthcare providers with a commitment to help others and developed a weekly clinic in which specialists and medical students of our university saw low-income patients referred to us from different charities of our city. Our group was wide-ranging and consisted of students, pharmacists, specialists, and dentists, too. The people who agreed to join our clinic were incredibly selfless and an inspiration, agreeing to treat the patients we saw in clinic for no compensation, and we were able to provide a range of care from imaging to prescriptions, all free of charge. Through this program, we also developed a program to screen for gynecological diseases, a service that was usually more difficult to access for this patient population. To support our plans, we had occasional fundraising programs in the university and our community. The experience showed me the possibilities and good that can be done when a group of like-minded individuals gathers and pushes each other, and the community, to care for one another.