Medical student creates Make-A-Wish service-learning program at Tulane
Anita Cook is a certified “wish-granter.” The third-year medical student at Tulane University School of Medicine dedicates her limited spare time to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, a national organization that grants wishes to children with critical illnesses. Cook has been volunteering with Make-A-Wish for more than a decade, so when it came time to apply for medical school, she listed wish-granting as one of her most important activities.
“Wish-granters are the people whom these little ones turn to, in their most vulnerable states, and whisper their pipe dreams,” said Cook. “My husband and I had already been serving Wish children for more than 10 years. We are CHANGED every time their eyes light up.”
Cook started a Make-A-Wish service-learning program at Tulane during her first year of medical school, and 60 of her fellow students have now completed the wish-granter training. Wish-granters meet with wish kids and their families and help children determine a wish. They also work alongside Make-A-Wish staff and wish families during the wish process.
“I believe that the best way to train oneself to practice empathy in a clinical environment is to constantly practice empathy with patients,” said Cook. “In wish-granting, medical students enter each interaction with one guiding principle: to build hope. I believe that when medical students repeatedly walk out of so many experiences centered on hope-building, empathy will become a habit that naturally spills over into our medical practice.”
The Tulane chapter’s recorded training session is now part of the larger Make-A-Wish training suite, and Cook hopes this opportunity serves as another reason to study medicine at Tulane.
“The wish-granting role is entirely congruent with Tulane’s emphasis on service to our New Orleans community,” said Cook. “We are so well known for exactly this sort of opportunity to build empathy with patients, even from our preclinical years.”
Tulane students interested in volunteering with the Texas Gulf Coast and Louisiana Make-A-Wish Foundation can apply here.
