TOUCH

Translating Osteopathic Understanding into Community Health

Use TrackItForward for personal hour tracking. The Coordinator form is only for Club and event submissions. If you have found new volunteering opportunities please suggest them at the email below. Please forward all questions to the TOUCH Committee email touch.middletown@gmail.com.

What is TOUCH? 

The Translating Osteopathic Understanding into Community Health (TOUCH) Program is a national initiative of the Council of Osteopathic Student Government Presidents (COSGP).

Its goal is to encourage osteopathic medical students to engage in service throughout their community, in order to impact those outside of osteopathic medical students and professionals, for the purpose of expanding the osteopathic ideals and principles to those unaware of our professional values.

Osteopathic medical students complete TOUCH approved events in the community and submit their hours to a national database. Recognition is given to students who achieve 35 hours, 70 hours, and the most hours on a campus in a given year.

For more information, visit  AACOM's website.

TOUCH Orientation 2021-2022
T.O.U.C.H. Program How to Use PPT.pptx

What are the TOUCH program policies?

The TOUCH year runs from May 1st to April 30th each year. 

Students that reach a threshold (for either silver or gold) during any TOUCH year of their medical school career, will be eligible for rewards from the COSGP and TouroCOM.

From COSGP: 

From TouroCOM Middletown:

For more information, visit  AACOM's website.

How do I log TOUCH hours? 

Individual students must log their TOUCH hours on the Track It Forward Website

Student Organizations must submit TOUCH eligible activity information through the TOUCH Event Form (learn more about our organizations here on the 'Student Organizations' and 'Student Life' pages).

All submissions will be reviewed by the TOUCH Committee for approval or rejection. Rejected submissions will receive an email regarding the reason for rejection. 

For more information, see the Logging Your TOUCH Hours page on the AACOM Website. 

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How can I contact the TOUCH Committee?

Please send all TOUCH related inquiries to touch.middletown@gmail.com.

The TOUCH Committee members for the 2022-23 academic year are:

The TOUCH Committee members for the 2021-22 academic year were:

What makes an opportunity TOUCH eligible? 

TOUCH Hours are any activity that works to improve the health and wellness of a community which incorporates osteopathic tenets, awareness, principles, and practice. (See Section VII, TOUCH Hours Standards)


All service hours are considered either TOUCH or Volunteer hours.


TOUCH hours include 100% of qualified event hours plus 50% of planning hours for a qualified event. Half of planning hours for a TOUCH eligible event are considered TOUCH eligible.

The following are examples of TOUCH approved hours:


Service that is not TOUCH (not engaging the outside community) is considered Volunteer.

The following are examples of Volunteer hours:


The following are examples of activities that are not service eligible (not TOUCH or Volunteer)

All TOUCH event requests at TouroCOM-Middletown should be submitted and approved by the TOUCH Coordinator at touch.middletown@gmail.com

Student TOUCH Hours should be submitted to Track It Forward within one month of the activity or date of service. (Submissions made over a month after the date of service risk being rejected.)

All submissions will be verified and then approved or denied by the TOUCH Committee. 

Students who are found to have falsified a TOUCH record, in a first offense will receive a warning from the national TOUCH coordinator. Students who are found to have falsified a TOUCH record, in a second or subsequent offense, will receive no credit for previous hours; be deemed ineligible for TOUCH recognition the remainder of the TOUCH year; and the student’s falsification will be reported to the student’s college by the national TOUCH coordinator.


Can I create a TOUCH Eligible Opportunity?

What are some TOUCH Opportunities available for me?

Below is a list of TOUCH eligible opportunities run through either school-related organizations or students. All opportunities contain a brief description, as well as contact information.

Students should submit any new opportunities for this page here. Submissions will be verified and then added to the document. Students with recurring opportunities are highly encouraged to submit them!

Updated TOUCH Hours Opportunities List.xlsx
Upcoming TOUCH events