Two Public Service Center programs present at conference

Two Cornell Public Service Center programs, the Patient Care Advocacy Team (PCAT) and Translator Interpreter Program (TIP), will present at the 2016 IMPACT Conference for their volunteer service work, Feb. 18-22 at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

IMPACT is the largest annual conference focused on the civic engagement of college students in community service, service-learning, community-based research, advocacy and other forms of social action.

PCAT, piloted last summer as a collaboration with Cayuga Medical Center (CMC) and Cornell Career Services, combines volunteering experience with structured learning and leadership development opportunities. PCAT students volunteer in the CMC Emergency Department and In-Patient Department to support medical staff.

TIP, a program of the Public Service Center since 2000, trains bilingual and multilingual Cornell students and staff to serve as volunteer translators and interpreters for community agencies in emergency and non-emergency situations. Certified by Cornell language faculty members, TIP translators and interpreters serve more than hundreds community agencies in Tompkins County and surrounding areas.

PCAT presenters include Joshua Miller ’17 and Haritha Aribindi ’17 along with Dr. Justine Waldman, associate director of emergency medicine at CMC, and Julia Wolinski, patient navigator at CMC. They will explain the program and how it has already been expanded after a successful launch last summer. Student volunteers through Ithaca College’s Office of Civic Engagement also serve at the hospital.

Members of the TIP board – Sichun Liu ’17, Kailyn Li ’17, Paola Camacho-Lemus ’18, Yana Kost ’17 and Joyce Muchan, PSC assistant director of student programs and TIP program adviser – will present their plan to develop a TIP program framework that can be replicated on campuses across the U.S.

Media Contact

Melissa Osgood