RECIPROCAL EMPOWERMENT: COMMUNITY AND STUDENTS - AN EXPERIENCE FROM HEL IN THE SOUTH OF BRAZIL.

Introduction: The Health Education League (HEL), a project created in the Federal University of Rio Grande (FURG), was founded in 2010, and since then has been coordinated by medical students that believe in a horizontal education. HEL uses the freirean methodology of Popular Education to interact with community. This oral communication aims to show how the experience of HEL in 2015 stimulated the reciprocal empowerment between students and community. Methods: It will be used reports and texts produced by students to “lesfurg.blogspot.com” blog and testimonies from the participants of the project from the book “The Quilt: Experiences of the Health Education League” [A colcha de Retalhos: Vivências da Liga de Educação em Saúde]. Results/Conclusions: According to a report of a student, HEL’s activities led academics to study and live patient’s empowerment, developing their skill of listening and comprehensiveness of different realities. Furthermore, the limitation of the biological model - “A life cannot be resumed in a 10 minutes appointment” - and the importance of the exchanging process: “The lack of empathy led to the limitation of the communication between patient and doctor”. The capacity of a careful listening and dialogue proves to be fundamental for both, the academics and the community, because according to the report of a community member: “It is emotionant to perceive that when we are talking about us we are also teaching students”. In this context, reciprocal empowerment from community and students became a strong tool for practice and learning.