In an era of continuing high unemployment, budget shortfalls, and greater demand for safety net services, 31 of Chicago’s best and brightest health professions students will soon be putting their idealism into action.  They were recently selected for the prestigious Schweitzer Fellowship – a program that will enable them to design and implement innovative year-long projects to help vulnerable Chicago communities.

Named in honor of famed humanitarian and Nobel laureate Dr. Albert Schweitzer, the Chicago Area Schweitzer Fellows Program encourages service-minded students to “make their lives their argument” by addressing the serious health challenges faced by members of society whose important needs are not currently being met.  In collaboration with existing community organizations, schools or clinics, each Schweitzer Fellow will provide 200 hours of direct service.  The new Fellows will work to empower individuals and families through projects such as:

• Helping veterans with traumatic brain injuries return to the workforce
• Empowering survivors of domestic abuse with stress management and life skills development
• Providing preventive health education and care for the chronically homeless
• Tutoring and motivating children to excel in school and to pursue health careers

“Being able to make healthy choices for oneself  is not a privilege, it is a right that everyone should enjoy,” said Michelle Leahy, a Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine student. “As a new Schweitzer Fellow, I am thrilled with the opportunity to expand my knowledge about how to care and to give good care.” Leahy will conduct a diabetes prevention program in the Humboldt Park community.  “All it takes is a few creative, passionate people to push the world into a more positive, caring place,” said Emilee Lamorena, a Rush University respiratory care student.  Lamorena will be serving as an educational resource for families affected by cancer.  “The Fellowship is filled with such people, and I want to surround myself with them.”

Since the Program began in 1996, 435 Schweitzer Fellows have contributed over 87,000 hours of service and have expanded the capacities of 170 Chicago community organizations.   “Our Schweitzer Fellows’ sense of altruism and dedication to service is not only remarkable, but it is clearly sustainable” said the Program’s founder and chairman, Dr. Quentin Young.  “The long-term vision for the Schweitzer program is to cultivate lifelong leaders in service, and we are aware that a decisive majority of Schweitzer alumni remain engaged with helping poorly resourced communities well beyond their fellowship year.”

The Chicago Area Schweitzer Fellows Program is a partnership between The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship™, headquartered in Boston, and Health & Medicine Policy Research Group, a Chicago nonprofit that focuses on health care access of the working poor and uninsured.