Like many students at McGill, Dentistry undergraduate student Rachel Korman benefits from the generosity of McGill donors.
In Rachel’s case, this can be seen through her work with the Faculty of Dentistry’s Service to the Community program, which operates through six mobile and fixed-location clinics. The outreach program brings oral and dental care to thousands of patients who would otherwise not have access to these services – and is a cornerstone of every dentistry student’s education.
“I definitely think it impacts the kind of clinician that you’re going to be in the future,” says Korman. “Because as you become that professional, you’re constantly reminded of the importance of giving back to your community.”
The Service to the Community Program is funded almost entirely by donors, including many who direct their support through The McGill Fund. All gifts from under $10 up to $25,000 flow through The McGill Fund; this form of support is also known as annual giving. In 2019, more than 26,000 alumni, parents, faculty, staff, students and friends gave through The McGill Fund, creating $12.5 million in impact in every School and Faculty across the University’s two campuses. This includes the 61 donors who gave a collective $16,000 to the Service to the Community program through their annual gifts.
Thanks to this critical donor support, Dentistry students like Korman get hands-on experience from their first year, all while making a difference in the lives of underserved people. Their patients include refugees and the homeless, as well as low income Montrealers and their children. Freshman students begin by assisting more senior students in their clinical work; responsibility progresses, and by their final year, undergraduates see their own patients on a weekly basis. “It’s a constant reminder that there are a lot of people right here in our community who need the help,” she says.
Inspired by the impact the program has had on the community, in their first year, Korman and six classmates led a crowdfunding class project through McGill’s Seeds of Change platform, also part of The McGill Fund. “We all really felt motivated after assisting for the first time in the outreach clinic,” says Korman, “We wanted to get involved and be a part of it, and be able to do more.” Thanks to this effort, gifts starting at $15 from students, faculty members, alumni and friends added up to over $3,000 in support of the Faculty’s clinics.
Now in her third year, Korman has logged significant time with the McGill Mobile Dental Clinic and the Undergraduate Teaching Clinic, and looks forward to expanding her involvement to include the Jim Lund Clinic at the Welcome Hall Mission, Montreal’s first permanent and free dental care clinic.
It’s not the only way Korman has benefitted from philanthropy; she is the recipient of a J.W. McConnell Scholarship, and also received funding for a summer research experience that enhanced her undergraduate studies, spending three summers working on a project to help reduce the over-prescription of antibiotics in oral and maxillofacial surgery.
“There’s a global antimicrobial crisis: people are being prescribed antibiotics too often, and bacteria are becoming resistant,” she explains. As part of her research work, Korman ran a close review of patients’ charts, tracking the prescriptions residents were writing for individuals who underwent certain procedures.
“The aim was to reduce the overall amount of antibiotics,” says Korman, and her group’s recommendations are already gaining traction.
On a personal level, Korman says, she has often thought about how she can one day give back, in the spirit of her class’s first-year fundraiser. “I think that will continue throughout our careers,” she says. “I know that everyone is very dedicated to giving back to the community.”