National Resident Awareness Week

Project Live It aspires to encourage people to try new and interesting things and to help others to do the same. I'll be posting what I've been inspired to try/learn/see/do each Friday.

Did you know that National Resident Awareness Week wrapped up yesterday? It's okay if you didn't...I didn't know of its existence, let alone when it was, until this year :S

The week is intended to showcase resident physicians and their instrumental role in the Canadian healthcare system. Here's a little infographic put out by RDoC:

As part of our contribution to National Resident Awareness Week, residents in Edmonton delivered donations that we'd collected over the past two months to Youth Empowerment and Support Services (YESS), a really great local organization that offers shelter, clothing, meals, and support to young people in need.

our residents' office/donation store room

We loaded up a rental van with clothing/food/school supply donations collected at hospitals across the city and dropped them off at YESS on Tuesday morning. The YESS staff were fantastic and gave us a tour of the building; it's a bright and cosy place with lots to offer. The media also showed up and did a little interview with one of our residents!

donation drop-off (source)

It's important for resident physicians to get out there in their communities. There's a lot we can do outside of the hospitals -- in this case, doing a small bit to help improve social determinants of heath, while educating ourselves on some barriers to healthcare that exist close to home. Definitely an interesting thing to have gotten involved in!