Brian Felice, MD
Director of community engagement
OUWB-BH Clinical liaison for UGME Community Service Activities
Southeast Michigan
DEI/Community Engagement
Street Medicine Oakland is a collaboration between the Royal Oak emergency department and OUWB School of Medicine that aims to bring medical care to the underserved and homeless population in Oakland County. Since 2019, attending emergency physicians from both Royal Oak and Troy have been volunteering and supervising medical students on a weekly basis both in the HOPE Shelter in Pontiac and directly on the streets of Pontiac and Royal Oak. By serving in this capacity, we have been able to bridge the healthcare gap and help under-resourced patients navigate the healthcare system and become connected with other community partners to continue care.
Beginning in January of 2021, in conjunction with our healthcare disparities longitudinal curriculum we began to include resident physician volunteers with the HOPE shelter outreach twice monthly. During this volunteer activity resident physicians supervise medical students and care for patients that are staying at the HOPE shelter in a clinic-based format. This gives our emergency medicine residents the opportunity to recognize the barriers of care that our patients face and provide free medical care outside the confines of the hospital.
In addition to caring for patients staying at the HOPE shelter, we also provide outreach directly to the homeless population living on the streets of Pontiac and Royal Oak twice monthly. By bringing food, toiletries, clothes, diagnostic tools, and medications directly to the streets where the homeless are living, we can remove several barriers to care for our most vulnerable population. Resident and attending physicians serve alongside medical students, counsel patients, and provide care that they would otherwise be unable to access easily.
Volunteering
Two of our attendings, Dr. Brian Felice and Dr. Laura Ortiz, volunteer with OUWB Street Medicine Pontiac. This organization, started by medical students, aims to bridge the gap between the homeless members of our community and healthcare providers.
“We volunteer on a weekly basis with a group of OUWB medical students to serve the community. Every other week we spend an evening at the Hope Shelter in Pontiac seeing patients in a clinic basis, listening to their concerns, treating what we can and helping them navigate the healthcare system and get connected to other resources. The alternating weeks we are on the streets of Pontiac looking for those that live on the streets, offering medical care, support and resources as we can.”
For those residents that desire more in-depth exposure we have created a one-month elective that provides increased opportunities to serve with our community partners and with the homeless population of Oakland County. Residents have been able to develop additional resources for the patients in our emergency department as well as take part in scholarly activity projects related to healthcare disparities.
Community outreach through street medicine
Street Medicine Oakland is a collaboration between the Royal Oak Emergency Department and OUWB School of Medicine that aims to bring medical care to underserved and homeless population in Oakland County. Since 2019, attending emergency physicians from both Royal Oak and Troy have been volunteering and supervising medical students on a weekly basis both in the HOPE Shelter in Pontiac or directly on the streets of Pontiac and Royal Oak. By serving in this capacity, we have been able to bridge the healthcare gap and help under-resourced patients navigate the healthcare system and become connected with other community partners to continue care.
Beginning in January of 2021, in conjunction with our healthcare disparities longitudinal curriculum we began to include resident physician volunteers with the HOPE shelter outreach twice monthly. During this volunteer activity resident physicians are able to see patients and supervise medical students that are staying at the HOPE shelter in a clinic-based format. Emergency medicine residents can serve patients and the community while supervising medical students and providing care outside the confines of the hospital.
In addition to caring for patients staying at the HOPE Shelter, we also provide outreach directly to the homeless population living on the streets of Pontiac twice monthly. By bringing food, toiletries, clothes, medical diagnostic tools, and medications directly to the streets where the homeless are living we can remove several barriers to care for our most vulnerable population. Resident physicians and attending physicians are able to serve alongside medical students, counsel patients, and provide care that they would otherwise be unable to access easily.
For those residents that desire more in-depth exposure we have created a one-month elective that provides increased opportunities to serve with our community partners and with the homeless population of Oakland County. Residents have been able to develop additional resources for the patients in our emergency department as well as take part scholarly activity projects related to healthcare disparities.
CPR initiative heading
Research has shown that bystander CPR is performed by minority populations at a significantly lower rate than white populations.
Year in review
The Royal Oak emergency medicine residency, in conjunction with our community engagement and DEI initiatives, created the Metro Detroit CPR training program with the goal to increase education and decrease barriers to CPR training. Our residents and attendings are committed to teaching basic CPR training for adults and children with novel techniques that can be easily replicated in the community. We currently have training classes with minority populations in Dearborn, Pontiac, and Detroit. We hope to improve patient care and continue to foster relationships with our local communities.
Additional service opportunities
- Pontiac street clean ups – beautification projects for the city of Pontiac
- Baldwin Center Health Fair – provide healthcare services and oversight to local community members with limited access to health care services
- Detroit Achievement Academy – provide age-based health education to elementary students in Detroit
- CPR training courses for minority populations
Community outreach
Street Medicine Oakland is a collaboration between the Royal Oak emergency department and OUWB School of Medicine that aims to bring medical care to the underserved and homeless population in Oakland County. Since 2019, attending emergency physicians from both Royal Oak and Troy have been volunteering and supervising medical students on a weekly basis both in the HOPE Shelter in Pontiac and directly on the streets of Pontiac and Royal Oak. By serving in this capacity, we have been able to bridge the healthcare gap and help under-resourced patients navigate the healthcare system and become connected with other community partners to continue care.
Beginning in January of 2021, in conjunction with our healthcare disparities longitudinal curriculum we began to include resident physician volunteers with the HOPE shelter outreach twice monthly. During this volunteer activity resident physicians supervise medical students and care for patients that are staying at the HOPE shelter in a clinic-based format. This gives our emergency medicine residents the opportunity to recognize the barriers of care that our patients face and provide free medical care outside the confines of the hospital.
In addition to caring for patients staying at the HOPE shelter, we also provide outreach directly to the homeless population living on the streets of Pontiac and Royal Oak twice monthly. By bringing food, toiletries, clothes, diagnostic tools, and medications directly to the streets where the homeless are living, we can remove several barriers to care for our most vulnerable population. Resident and attending physicians serve alongside medical students, counsel patients, and provide care that they would otherwise be unable to access easily.
Volunteering
Two of our attendings, Dr. Brian Felice and Dr. Laura Ortiz, volunteer with OUWB Street Medicine Pontiac. This organization, started by medical students, aims to bridge the gap between the homeless members of our community and healthcare providers.
“We volunteer on a weekly basis with a group of OUWB medical students to serve the community. Every other week we spend an evening at the Hope Shelter in Pontiac seeing patients in a clinic basis, listening to their concerns, treating what we can and helping them navigate the healthcare system and get connected to other resources. The alternating weeks we are on the streets of Pontiac looking for those that live on the streets, offering medical care, support and resources as we can.”
For those residents that desire more in-depth exposure we have created a one-month elective that provides increased opportunities to serve with our community partners and with the homeless population of Oakland County. Residents have been able to develop additional resources for the patients in our emergency department as well as take part in scholarly activity projects related to healthcare disparities.
Community outreach through street medicine
Street Medicine Oakland is a collaboration between the Royal Oak Emergency Department and OUWB School of Medicine that aims to bring medical care to underserved and homeless population in Oakland County. Since 2019, attending emergency physicians from both Royal Oak and Troy have been volunteering and supervising medical students on a weekly basis both in the HOPE Shelter in Pontiac or directly on the streets of Pontiac and Royal Oak. By serving in this capacity, we have been able to bridge the healthcare gap and help under-resourced patients navigate the healthcare system and become connected with other community partners to continue care.
Beginning in January of 2021, in conjunction with our healthcare disparities longitudinal curriculum we began to include resident physician volunteers with the HOPE shelter outreach twice monthly. During this volunteer activity resident physicians are able to see patients and supervise medical students that are staying at the HOPE shelter in a clinic-based format. Emergency medicine residents can serve patients and the community while supervising medical students and providing care outside the confines of the hospital.
In addition to caring for patients staying at the HOPE Shelter, we also provide outreach directly to the homeless population living on the streets of Pontiac twice monthly. By bringing food, toiletries, clothes, medical diagnostic tools, and medications directly to the streets where the homeless are living we can remove several barriers to care for our most vulnerable population. Resident physicians and attending physicians are able to serve alongside medical students, counsel patients, and provide care that they would otherwise be unable to access easily.
For those residents that desire more in-depth exposure we have created a one-month elective that provides increased opportunities to serve with our community partners and with the homeless population of Oakland County. Residents have been able to develop additional resources for the patients in our emergency department as well as take part scholarly activity projects related to healthcare disparities.
CPR initiative heading
Research has shown that bystander CPR is performed by minority populations at a significantly lower rate than white populations.
Year in review
The Royal Oak emergency medicine residency, in conjunction with our community engagement and DEI initiatives, created the Metro Detroit CPR training program with the goal to increase education and decrease barriers to CPR training. Our residents and attendings are committed to teaching basic CPR training for adults and children with novel techniques that can be easily replicated in the community. We currently have training classes with minority populations in Dearborn, Pontiac, and Detroit. We hope to improve patient care and continue to foster relationships with our local communities.
Additional service opportunities
- Pontiac street clean ups – beautification projects for the city of Pontiac
- Baldwin Center Health Fair – provide healthcare services and oversight to local community members with limited access to health care services
- Detroit Achievement Academy – provide age-based health education to elementary students in Detroit
- CPR training courses for minority populations
Community outreach
We are committed to building an environment for our students to feel a sense of belonging, feel valued, and respected.
Our commitment
- Addressing the cultural and religious needs
- Chaldean community (Troy), Orthodox Judaism
- Dietary accommodations
- Multi-language discharge instructions
- Black Lives Matter messaging and moment of silence
- Diversity and inclusion focus group
- Resources for mental health patients: HAVEN
- Resources for substance abuse: ETOH - HOPE program
- Opiate use disorder STAR program
- Street Medicine Pontiac - HOPE clinic
- Victims of Persecution Asylum Initiative/ Freedom House Detroit
Diversity initiatives
Some ongoing diversity initiatives that we have within the emergency medicine department include:
- Increasing our pipeline programming of URM students
- Mentorship with OUWB SNMA, LMSA, and Queers & Allies groups
- DEI newsletter & journal club
Commitment to D+E+I
- Re-examining our screening and interview criteria
- Scheduling accommodations for Ramadan, Sabbath etc.
- Prayer accommodations
- Creation of Diversity and Inclusion Committee
- Inclusion of diversity/inclusion and social medicine topics within longitudinal curriculum
- 2022 Community Needs Assessment BRIEF report
- 2023-2025 Strategic Plan
Health equity curriculum
Healthcare disparities, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is the “preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or opportunities to achieve optimal health that are experienced by socially disadvantaged populations.”
Our curriculum includes lectures and SIM sessions centered around our care for marginalized communities. In recent years, these have included focus on:
- Racial & ethnic minority groups
- LGBTQ population
- Limited English Proficiency (LEP) population
- Incarcerated population
- Homeless population
FEM-IN-EM
Our emergency medicine department boasts a large number of female faculty who are leaders in their respective fields, ranging from administration to research to medical education. We also have a large number of female residents, making up almost half of our residency. Our FEM-IN-EM group is active with some recent programming, including our ‘Girls Night In: Galantines Edition’ and karaoke night.
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Emergency medicine contact info
3601 W. 13 Mile RdRoyal Oak, MI 48073