Third-year medical student Alexandra Hoffman discovered Achilles International as part of a new required service-learning course at Einstein. The nonprofit group provides athletic programs for people with disabilities and has chapters across the United States and in 17 other countries. But until 2023, there was no chapter in the Bronx.
So Ms. Hoffman and a handful of her Einstein classmates got together to organize a local Achilles chapter as part of their service-learning course. The athletes, with conditions ranging from blindness to limb loss to cerebral palsy, now meet up with medical students and other volunteers on Wednesday evenings at Pelham Bay Park to run and connect with one another.
The experience has been “life-changing,” Ms. Hoffman says. “As a future physician, certain skills translate in and out of the hospital, such as humility, compassion, and the ability to listen and value each individual’s story.”
Ariel Fishman, Ph.D., left, and medical student Alexandra Hoffman with Achilles athlete Bill Reilly.
Established in 2022, Einstein’s service-learning course was designed to foster meaningful connections between students and their community. “Einstein is one of a few medical schools across the country that includes a required longitudinal service-learning course in the medical school curriculum,” says the program’s director, Lauren Roth, M.D. ’16, assistant professor of pediatrics at Einstein.
Students are given dedicated time in the curriculum to partner with community-based organizations, in addition to structured time for reflection and skill-building in small-group sessions. The curriculum focuses on professional competencies such as cultural humility, communication, teamwork, and social responsibility. “The community benefits from the passion and enthusiasm of our students,” says Dr. Roth, “but more importantly, the students learn from our community members and partner organizations.”
Lauren Roth, M.D. ’16, assistant professor of pediatrics and director of the service-learning course at Einstein
As a future physician, certain skills translate in and out of the hospital, such as humility, compassion, and the ability to listen and value each individual’s story.
— Alexandra Hoffman
Students are required to complete 40 hours of service as part of the course during their first two years of medical school, but many students find the experience so fulfilling that they easily exceed that requirement. Ms. Hoffman even looks for local Achilles meetups when she travels. “It’s an incredible program with the most welcoming people,” she says. “No matter what city I’ve gone to, they treat me like family.”
More than 40 community-based organizations offer service-learning opportunities to Einstein students. Below, we focus on three that engage people with physical disabilities to find out how those experiences are bolstering Einstein’s medical education and ties to the Bronx.
From left, Ariel Fishman, Ph.D.; Einstein medical students Carolyn Rachofsky and Jordan Giordano; Achilles athlete Valeria Jacobs; Einstein medical students Vivek Gogineni, Ali Hoffman, and Jenasis Ortega; and Achilles athlete Evelyn Rivera.
Ariel Fishman, Ph.D., first encountered Achilles International some 20 years ago while running alongside people with disabilities in the New York City Marathon. Then, in 2012, the senior director of institutional research, assessment, and reporting at Einstein lost both legs below the knee in a car accident. “All of a sudden I was a prospective constituent of this organization that I’d been only peripherally aware of,” he says.
With the help of specialized running prostheses, Dr. Fishman began running again with the Manhattan Achilles community. In 2023, he became the Einstein faculty site leader for medical students who wanted to pursue service-learning opportunities with this organization. He knew that a Bronx Achilles chapter was needed, modeled after the successful program in Manhattan but serving athletes and volunteers in the local Bronx community instead.
To meet the need for a local practice site, Ms. Hoffman and her classmates worked with Dr. Fishman on the logistics that go into building an organization. That meant finding a meeting place, recruiting athletes, and identifying and training volunteers. After a few months the Bronx chapter of Achilles became a reality, with an inaugural meetup in the spring of 2023. Partnered with students and volunteer guides, the athletes now assemble at Pelham Bay Park for weekly running and walking workouts using walkers, canes, wheelchairs, and other adaptive equipment.
All of the athletes have their own preferences, says Ms. Hoffman. One blind runner may like holding onto a guide’s wrist; another may feel most comfortable running between two sighted people who can warn about obstacles. “It’s about getting to know each athlete individually, which is really one of the best parts,” she says.
The experience holds important lessons for future physicians, says Dr. Fishman. As the chapter’s organizers, students learn to be responsible—to solve, rather than delegate, problems, he says. “They get to know people with disabilities not as patients but as fellow human beings with unique challenges,” he says. And the interactions offer insights, such as when a student helped an athlete transfer from a wheelchair into a car. “That’s not usually in a physician’s jurisdiction,” Dr. Fishman adds, “but it’s important for doctors to understand how people with disabilities navigate the world.”
The experience has shifted Ms. Hoffman’s perspective on disability. “We can honor people’s inherent capability by removing social and physical barriers,” she says. “That understanding has already translated to my clinical rotations in the hospital and will definitely affect my future practice.”
Service learning has been a unique and really interesting experience. It exposed me to a field that I had never thought about before.
— Molly Dobelle
Third-year Einstein medical student Molly Dobelle was eager to do her service learning through the Amputee Walking School: Her father had lost both legs and never really learned how to use his prostheses. The Amputee Walking School was founded in 1989 by two Paralympian amputees—Todd Schaffhauser and Dennis Oehler—who, like her dad, had initially found prostheses extremely difficult to use. In their workshops, the two men emphasize that it takes a million steps to get comfortable with a prosthesis.
“That’s a really big number that can’t be met in acute rehab or even long-term physical therapy,” says Ms. Dobelle. “You have to do a lot of work on your own.” The walking school’s training sessions help amputees improve their walking and running by better understanding how their prostheses work and how to use the muscles of affected limbs to move more efficiently.
One such training session—a daylong gait-training event—was held last year at Montefiore Health System’s Wakefield campus for people with leg amputations and for physical and occupational therapists. Stephanie Rand, D.O., the Einstein faculty site leader for the program, and several service-learning medical students hosted the session along with the Amputee Walking School team.
Morning lecture topics included how amputees can work better with their prostheses plus exercises to improve their gait, says Dr. Rand, who is also an assistant professor in the Arthur S. Abramson Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) at Einstein and a rehabilitation medicine physician and director of the PM&R residency at Montefiore. After lunch, therapists and amputees practiced the skills they’d learned, while service-learning students monitored patients and provided encouragement.
Molly Dobelle, third-year medical student
Clockwise from top: Amputee Walking School co-founder Todd Schaffhauser, far left, and Einstein's Stephanie Rand, D.O., at far right, discuss exercise options with a participant seated in a wheelchair as Einstein medical student Abdulbasit Oyefeso looks on; EInstein medical student Tanner Nelson, right, chats with an Amputee Walking School participant; and Amputee Walking School co-founder Dennis Oehller, far left, guides a participant on a balance board as Einstein student Tanner Nelson steadies him. (Photos by Scott Jones)
I had no idea how many challenges amputees face when integrating back into society once they leave the hospital.
— Alexandra Falkenberg
There was a useful social aspect too, as amputees and family members connected with one another. “They talked about aspects of daily life that doctors don’t always have the best answers for—like what do you do when your leg gets sweaty in the prosthesis, or what lotions won’t leave a residue on your socket or liner,” says Dr. Rand.
Third-year medical student Alexandra Falkenberg and Ms. Dobelle helped plan the event and recruit attendees, which involved calling 180 amputees in the Montefiore system. “Transportation was a huge barrier, especially because many require assistive devices,” Ms. Falkenberg says, “and we needed to arrange rides for many people.”
Both Ms. Falkenberg and Ms. Dobelle found it eye-opening to interact with the amputees and their families. “I had no idea how many challenges amputees face when integrating back into society once they leave the hospital,” Ms. Falkenberg says.
The newest cohort of service-learning students met up in June for an afternoon to learn more about people with disabilities through an Amputee Walking School session at the Sans Souci Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Yonkers, where they helped people wearing prostheses practice walking, balancing on boards, and climbing stairs.
And the students are already at work planning a walkathon to mark Limb Loss Awareness Month in April 2025. “Participants will be able to set goals based on their individual levels—50 feet, 100 yards, a lap around the track, or more,” says Dr. Rand. “And then, ideally, we’ll ramp up to holding Amputee Walking School events two to three times a year.”
Service learning, says Ms. Dobelle, has been a “unique and really interesting experience. It exposed me to a field that I had never thought about before.”
Alexandra Falkenberg, third-year medical student
If you jump in a wheelchair and join a game, you might get beat, because some of these athletes are really good.
— Kaiyu Tio
From left, Montefiore resident Spencer Brodsky, M.D., with adaptive boxing participant Brainard Parks and instructor Donahue Fields at the Montefiore Adaptive Sports Festival. (Photo by Mark Kurtz)
Second-year Einstein medical student Kaiyu Tio was in for a surprise when he first got on the tennis court as part of his service-learning opportunity with Montefiore Adaptive Sports. “Some of these athletes in prostheses or wheelchairs could return a serve a lot better than I could,” he recalls. “I had to work hard to keep up.”
Montefiore’s PM&R department coordinates a variety of adaptive physical activity programs for people with disabilities. Adaptive tennis meets once a month at indoor or outdoor courts, depending on the season, and is the most well-established program offered, says Eugene Palatulan, M.D. ‘17, M.A., the Einstein faculty site leader for the program, assistant professor in the Arthur S. Abramson Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Einstein, and director of adaptive sports medicine at Montefiore.
The year’s biggest event, attended and supported by PM&R chair Matthew Bartels, M.D., is the spring Montefiore Adaptive Sports Festival. The fourth annual event, held in May at Williamsbridge Oval Park in the Bronx, showcased a variety of adaptive sports, including tennis, basketball, boxing, cycling, and running, the latter with representatives of Achilles International.
One of Mr. Tio’s tasks was to reach potential participants by phone and through social media. The turnout—nearly 50 disabled athletes and volunteers participated—was the best yet, he says.
Unfortunately, opportunities for adaptive athletics are rare, especially in the under-resourced Bronx, says Dr. Palatulan. “Our service-learning students definitely have a positive impact on our community by working to improve the health literacy and well-being of residents. And it’s a symbiotic relationship,” he says. “They’ll be better doctors because of the time they’ve spent working with folks in the disability community.”
Mr. Tio agrees. Based on his experience, he now knows not to assume what is or isn’t in reach for a person with disabilities. “It leads to better physician-patient relationships when you talk to patients about their capabilities and figure out challenges together,” he says.
Although he’s met his service-learning requirement for the semester, Mr. Tio plans to stick with adaptive sports and encourages others to volunteer. “If you jump in a wheelchair and join a game, you might get beat, because some of these athletes are really good,” he says, laughing. “But I guarantee that you’ll have a blast.”
Eugene Palatulan, M.D. ‘17, M.A., left, and Einstein medical student Kaiyu Tio.
Montefiore Adaptive Sports Festival activities, clockwise from top: Players try out a game of adaptive basketball; adaptive tennis director Aye Mon Win, D.O., practices with participant Rome Leykin; Montefiore physical medicine and rehabilitation residents and Montefiore Adaptive Sports Medicine Board members Adam Nessim, M.D., Anthony Iuso, D.O., Sally Liu, M.D., Yolanda Pham, M.D., and Marjorie Morales, M.D.; and adaptive cyclists enjoy a ride using handcycles. (Photos by Mark Kurtz)
