The MUN Med Gateway Project: marrying medical education and social accountability

Access to a continuum of care from a family physician is an essential component of health and well-being; however, refugees have particular barriers in accessing medical care.

To provide access to family physicians and continuity of care for newly arrived refugees; to provide opportunities for medical students to practise cross-cultural health care; and to mentor medical students in advocacy for underserved populations.

The MUN Med Gateway Project, based at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St John's, is a medical student initiative that partners with the local refugee settlement agency to provide health care for new refugees to the province. Medical students conduct in-depth medical histories, with provision of some basic physical screening, while working through an interpreter with supervision by a family doctor and settlement public health nurse. Each patient or family is matched with a family physician.

The project's adaptation of student-run clinics, which connects refugees with the existing mainstream medical system, has been an overwhelming success, making it a model for community action as an educational strategy.