The community advocacy event "UAB Helps You Succeed!" began as an advocacy project in 2016 of a then PGY-2 Pediatric resident at Children's of Alabama. The Health Fair is held annually at a local elementary school and aims to target at-risk youth and their families by educating them on a variety of different health topics such as: healthy active living, gun safety, and poison prevention - just to name a few. The event also aims to support elementary school staff with charitable donations that range from school supplies, backpacks and healthy snacks for their students. The event is held annually prior to the beginning of the school year and is organized/managed by the UAB Pediatric Residents, UAB Pediatric faculty, the Coat of Arms (Community Outreach/ Advocacy Residency organization), and a variety of community sponsors.

Since 2007, the residents have organized a 5K in the Spring to support and raise funds for Residency project. Every May residents, faculty, staff, and patients come together to support our Residency. In addition to promoting healthy choices among our community's youth, our goal is to raise funds to directly support the health and well-being of the children in our community. This year we are excited to support the Reach Out and Read – a nationwide program that incorporates books into pediatric care. Past beneficiaries include: Weight Management Clinic and Healthy Active Living Project. Click here for this year's race information.

View photos from this years race

One of the missions of the Coat of Arms is to make international opportunities available to our residents and introduce them to ways they can serve others throughout the world!

The Global Health Interest Group meets every other month for didactic and interactive educational sessions covering global health topics and resident and faculty international experiences. Additionally, faculty with an interest in global health host evening social gatherings. The Department of Pediatrics sponsors a resident exchange program with Chile each year for four residents, in addition to providing resources for residents interested in opportunities in other countries such as Kenya, Zambia, India, and Peru. Residents are allowed two away months during their residency, and several of our residents use the option for away months to participate in international medical opportunities.

Each year our Pediatric Residency Program adopts two or three Primary Care Clinic Families to provide Christmas gifts for them. We are able to meet the "gift requests" of our children's families with many of our residents, faculty and staff giving generous donations to meet these needs.

Each year our residents have the opportunity to work at Children’s Camps where they can volunteer for a day, a weekend, or a week. Some of these camps include: Adaptive Aquatics, Asthma Camp, Burn Camp, Camp BRIDGES, Camp COOL, Camp Smile-A-Mile, Camp Seale Harris, Camp Smile, Magic Moments, and Muscular Dystrophy Camp.  These camps offer a wide variety of activities for their campers and are located on Lake Martin.

Each year we have local organizations needing volunteers to be involved in their programs. Some of the opportunities presented include: Magic Moments, SAFE KIDS, Think First Trauma Prevention Program, M-Power, free health clinics, Respite Care, and Ronald McDonald House.