The Impact of COVID-19 on Marginalized Communities
Academic Medicine, 2021
Joel Grunhut
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In brief
A letter written after the author, then finishing his first year of medical school, returned to volunteer at a New York City food pantry during the COVID-19 pandemic and found a line of several hundred people wrapped around the block. He calls on medical students to spend time freed up by school closures volunteering, and on medical schools to build community service into how they teach about pandemics.
Key findings
The pantry, once open weekly, was open every day and struggling to keep up as furloughs drove a sharp rise in hunger.
Medical students and trainees should fill volunteer shortages at food pantries and soup kitchens, which also deepens their understanding of underrepresented and marginalized communities.
Widespread food insecurity signals future health problems from lost income, since disadvantaged patients already face time and cost barriers to care.
Medical schools should build community volunteering into their curricula on responding to pandemics.
How to cite
Grunhut J. The Impact of COVID-19 on Marginalized Communities. Acad Med. 2021;96(6):786. doi:10.1097/ACM.0000000000004032