Photo: Pat Sargent
The road to a Doctor of Medicine degree runs through a nonprofit, community bike shop in the Main South neighborhood of Worcester for two T.H. Chan School of Medicine students engaged in community building, transportation equity and public health.
At Worcester Earn-A-Bike at the Village Afrocentric Cultural Center, people of all ages who help keep it running are rewarded with a free bike. Second-year medical students Hoang Vo and Diego Marroquin are volunteering at the shop and fulfilling the component of their medical school curriculum that is geared toward making an impact on the local community, the health care system and the global population.
“Being from the city, I knew choosing this pathway project was a great way to give back to my community. It’s hands-on, it can be fun and it makes an impact in Worcester,” said Vo, a Worcester Technical High School and Worcester State University graduate.
Marroquin, who was born in Guatemala and moved to Lawrence, Massachusetts as a teen, is a UMass Dartmouth grad enrolled in the Accelerated MD Program at the T.H. Chan School of Medicine.
“I was really interested in the social determinants of health and how they impact the community that we are serving, including transportation access, where people might not have access to a car or they rely on public transportation,” Marroquin said. “I thought it was important to be involved with an organization like Worcester Earn-a Bike that not only addresses how that issue of transportation access can really impact the community, but also the impact biking can have in terms of an individual’s health.”
As part of the VISTA curriculum, the Pathway Programs give students opportunities to explore areas of interest longitudinally and in-depth during their four years in medical school. For the Structural Inequity, Advocacy and Justice Pathway, Vo and Marroquin are mentoring local youth involved with Worcester Earn-A-Bike, advocating for bike safety, repairing donated bicycles and participating in community events geared toward transportation equity and environmental sustainability. The pathway is led by Hugh J. Silk, MD, professor of family medicine & community health, and Melanie Gnazzo, MD, assistant professor of family medicine & community health.
“More than a Bike: Building Equity, Health and Community in Worcester” is the longitudinal project for Vo and Marroquin.
“Hoang and Diego are bringing a strong curiosity, empathy and desire to understand the needs in the community,” Dr. Gnazzo said. “They’re particularly interested in transportation equity and the overall mental and physical health impacts around biking. They’re really an example of how to collaborate with an organization and provide the skills they have and doing so in a way that reflects the needs of Worcester Earn-a-Bike.”
Worcester Earn-a-Bike, a city fixture for nearly 25 years, repairs around 25 donated bikes each month and distributes roughly 100 bikes a year to volunteers, according to executive director Nathan Lewis. The shop promotes volunteering and basic bike maintenance skills and encourages bike riding as an empowering, economical and healthy alternative to car culture. Volunteers earn free bikes by volunteering for five to 10 hours.
“Having these med students come in regularly and work with us helps provide a different perspective and spread the word of safety,” Lewis said. “That’s a huge part of it. They’re able to explain the importance of safety in a way that people will pay attention to.”
