Medlife: A Community Oriented Club With A Service Initiative

What is Medlife?

Medlife is a BHS club that raises awareness for equity in healthcare and actively engages with the local community. On a larger scale, Medlife club also fundraises for MEDLIFE International, a global non-profit organization that “partners with low-income communities in Latin America and Africa to improve their access to medicine, education, and community development projects”. Originally founded in 2004 by Nick Ellis, the organization has now grown to over one hundred chapters, including the BHS chapter. MEDLIFE Chapters are “pillars” of the larger movement and are composed of students that represent and promote MEDLIFE at their schools and in their local communities. 

MedLife at BHS

The Medlife Club at BHS was first established in 2019 by senior Lily Mooney, who was a sophomore at the time. After taking part in a service trip in Peru hosted by MEDLIFE International, Lily was inspired to start a chapter here in Bedford. This year, senior Alisha Juneja also works alongside Lily; their leadership as co-presidents has been successful so far as they have consistently filled their agenda with club events and community engagement opportunities.

A new initiative that Medlife Club has started this past year is a monthly theme that centers around global and mental health issues. The November theme is food insecurity, so Lily and Alisha are currently planning club volunteering opportunities at New Horizons and the Bedford Community Food Pantry. 

In past years, one of the most popular events hosted by BHS Medlife was a trivia night held for residents at the Bedford Falls Senior Living Center. Amongst the pandemic, the residents were isolated from their loved ones, so Medlife Club put on a virtual jeopardy game via Google Meet to engage the citizens. When the first session turned out to be a major success at Bedford Falls, Medlife made the trivia night a monthly event. In addition to virtual jeopardy, club members and senior residents also exchanged monthly pen pal letters to communicate with one another. The pen pal letters remain a tradition this year, and the club is looking forward to resuming the trivia nights as well. 

Every year around the holiday season in December, BHS Medlife puts together holiday gift bags for children in the pediatric ward at the Southern New Hampshire Medical Center. In preparation for this, Medlife is hosting a Chipotle fundraiser next week. All proceeds from the fundraiser will be used to purchase toys and hygiene products for the December gift bags. Stop by Chipotle next Tuesday, November 16th from 5:00 to 9:00 pm to help support this cause!