Students show that ‘kindness rocks’ during Solidarity Week

Members of the Gold Humanism in Medicine Honor Society hold kindness rocks they created as part of Solidarity Week.

Members of the University of South Alabama chapter of the Arnold P. Gold Humanism in Medicine Honor Society (GHHS) designed hand-painted rocks to spread encouraging messages as part of Solidarity Week, a national initiative designed to remind students and healthcare workers of the importance of compassion in medicine.

Jordan Smith, a fourth-year medical student and treasurer 

of GHHS, shows one of the kindness rocks outside the 

Fanny Meisler Trauma Center.

“Solidarity Week is all about connection and unity as a healthcare team in order to take the best possible care of our patients,” said Jordan Smith, a fourth-year medical student who serves as treasurer of GHHS. “Each member of the team is valuable and important. We all depend on one another to be an effective team and, therefore, should take care of each other.”

GHHS members and advisers painted river rocks in gold, white and red, adding messages such as “Be kind,” “Love always,” #KindnessRocks, #SolidarityWeek and “You are gold.” They placed the rocks at a variety of locations near the USA College of Medicine Medical Sciences Building and USA Health facilities.

Smith said that she has already heard positive comments from a staff member who found a rock outside the Mastin Building near University Hospital. “She now keeps one of them on her desk and had given another one with the word ‘hope’ written on it to one of her co-workers who was having a really tough time,” she said. “I was so happy to hear that the rocks had actually brightened peoples’ day and made an impact.”

In addition to distributing rocks, Smith delivered chocolates to clerkship coordinators who facilitate the medical students’ third-year clinical rotations. The GHHS also submitted a letter to the staff at the USA College of Medicine expressing appreciation for their hard work during the pandemic. Members adjusted this year’s activities to comply with COVID-19 social distancing guidelines, which limited student interaction with patients and others.

“We began to reflect on the principles Solidarity Week stands for. As we did, we realized that it’s not always fun events or food products that bring people together. Sometimes words can be the most impactful,” said W. Hamilton Moore, a fourth-year medical student and GHHS chapter president. “As we wrote the letter, we were hopeful that it would encourage and unite this great college of medicine.”

The letter thanked faculty and staff for demonstrating the principles that Solidarity Week celebrates. “From the time we were granted admission to now, we have experienced kindness and compassion in the times that we needed it the most,” it said.

The national Gold Humanism Honor Society established National Solidarity Day for Compassionate Care in 2011 to highlight the nationwide movement promoting provider-patient relationships based on caring, personalization and mutual respect. Solidarity Day was recognized as a day on the national calendar starting in 2013 and was expanded to Solidarity Week in 2016.

“Solidarity Week is important because it is an opportunity for medical students nationwide to promote compassionate, personal and respectful provider-patient relationships,” said T.J. Hundley, M.D., associate dean for medical education and a chapter adviser.

Each year a select group of students, residents and faculty members are chosen for GHHS membership through a peer-nominated process. Recently, 10 third-year medical students, three residents and one faculty member were selected for induction.

See all photos from Solidarity Week on Flickr.