February was a busy month for the Operation House Call team. Lectures were held at five schools: Boston University School of Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, UMass Graduate Nursing School, and Simmons Graduate School of Nursing, PT, and Nutrition.
Our newest school is Harvard Medical School (HMS). They have officially embedded Operation House Call into their disability curriculum and welcomed our instructor and panel of co-teachers for in-person learning. HMS is also participating in virtual home visits and self-reflection essay writing.
The Arc is thrilled to have reached over 200 soon-to-be healthcare professionals and to have made a lasting impact on their knowledge about the needs of people with autism and intellectual and developmental disabilities.
The Operation House Call program believes that healthcare professionals can learn important communication strategies directly from individuals with disabilities and their families. They also learn about how implicit bias can affect treatment and assessment and they become aware of the dangers of diagnostic overshadowing.
The students get to experience learning through the personal and family stories of our instructors and co-teachers. These classes are full of powerful messages, hope, tears, and laughter.
OHC is grateful for our partnerships with these schools and especially grateful for the families who continue to open their homes (virtually) to help the students learn even more. Over the next 6-8 weeks, there will be approximately 80 home visits taking place.
For more information on Operation House Call or to make a donation to this program, please contact Maura Sullivan at sullivan@arcmass.org.
