Seven representatives from the Washington, D.C. branch of Project HEALTH, a Harvard volunteer program focused on pediatric health, met with volunteers from Harvard and Columbia Universities on Wednesday to discuss how to start the community service program at George Washington University (GW) this fall.

Since its founding in 1996 at Harvard, the public health community service program, which unites college volunteers, area hospitals, and surrounding communities through clinic- and community-based programs, has expanded to Providence, New York City, and—this summer—Washington.

During the daylong series of meetings at Boston Medical Center (BMC) and Harvard, the students from GW and Harvard talked with BMC officials and visited participants of the Asthma Swim Program at Madison Park Community Center in Roxbury.

The hospital officials discussed how to gain credibility and support within a medical institution.

BMC Pediatrics Department Chair and Boston University Medical School Professor Barry Zuckerman said that “innovation” and the usefulness of the services distinguished Project HEALTH volunteers as “partners, not candy-stripers.”

Ellen Lawton, a BMC nurse, legal advocate and mentor for the Family Help Desk (FHD), which along with the Asthma Swim Program serves as the flagship Project HEALTH program, discussed the value of mentoring and how to find a mentor.

Mentoring, service and reflection are the three hallmarks of the Project HEALTH model, said Elizabeth J. Quinn, ’04, a coordinator of FHD. Quinn said the reflection component of the program, which involves weekly hour-long reflection meetings, was unique to Project HEALTH and that these meetings benefit both the volunteers and the clients.

“Thinking about why you’re there and how you’re doing your work is invaluable to the clients,” Quinn said.