CWRU medical students bring monthly health screenings and education to CentroVilla25
Case Western Reserve University medical students are helping bring preventive care directly to the community through monthly healthcare programming held at CentroVilla25, Cleveland's premier Latino market and food hall.
Each month, School of Medicine students provide free health screenings, like blood pressure tests, while delivering educational talks that cover everything from liver disease and its association with alcohol use to ways to manage chronic stress and prevent diabetes.
Interactive elements—such as doing cardio to understand heart rate zones and taste-testing mocktails to find healthy alcohol substitutes—help make the education sessions engaging and practical for community members. Students also help connect participants with local physicians, encouraging follow-up appointments for those who have not seen a clinician recently.
This Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine and Latino Medical Student Association initiative, led by Associate Professor and Assistant Dean of Student Engagement and Wellbeing Monica Yepes-Rios, MD, is open to all CWRU MD students and aims to address the high rates of preventable chronic conditions that disproportionately affect Hispanic and Latino communities in Cleveland.
“My hope is that we can motivate people to be more proactive when it comes to preventing chronic conditions by inspiring them to make lifestyle changes that will be beneficial in the long run,” said first-year medical student Jose Santana. “I also hope to encourage each of them to regularly visit their primary health providers.”
By hosting health programming at CentroVilla25, students are able to work directly with community members to reduce barriers that often prevent individuals from accessing care.
“Being in a familiar, trusted setting makes people more comfortable interacting with healthcare providers and engaging in health conversations,” Santana shared. “It helps CWRU connect more authentically with the community by bringing healthcare directly to them.”
Building on that sense of trust and accessibility, the impact of the program extends beyond the community members it serves to the students themselves, shaping how they understand medicine and their role as future physicians.
“This experience has been incredibly meaningful to me in more ways than one,” shared MD candidate Alberto De La Isla. “Having been raised in Los Angeles County and coming from a Mexican family, I am no stranger to the barriers that impact the ability of community members to access care. Programs like these are crucial for effective counseling, facilitating connection with primary care physicians, community building, and restoring trust in local healthcare institutions by making sure that schools and hospitals don't just remain standalone institutions, but instead become active members of the community they are in.”
Through preventive education and partnership, CWRU medical students are building that strong sense of community—and healthier futures for those who make it up—one conversation at a time.
