Students from the Weill-Cornell Geriatrics Interest Group (GIG) have become actively involved in teaching older adults in monthly health education workshops held at the Stanley Isaacs Community Center. This new program, STEPS (Students Teaching/Education Program for Seniors), is the brainchild of first-year student Tzivia Moreen, who has worked closely with Danielle Lucas of the Stanley Isaacs staff, as well as other interested GIG students in developing and coordinating topics that would appeal to these enthusiastic learners.

Interested medical students research health topics related to aging and then prepare an interactive workshop. These workshops not only give the students an opportunity to prepare a talk on health issues specific to an older lay audience, but they also provide the older adults with directly applicable information.

We have already had two highly successful programs. In February, Tzivia, Jonathan Austrian, and Tzevan Poon (first year students) led a discussion on home safety. In March, Jessica McCannon (Year II) and Sarah Schellhorn (Year I) spoke on health maintenance. Two future talks will be on Type II Diabetes by Heather Tauschek (Year III) and Laura Fanning (Year II) and Depression by Sarah Schellhorn and Gabrielle Rizzuto. The program has only been in existence a few months, but students have been consistently receiving rave reviews from the older participants, and attendance at these events has been growing dramatically.