We play a key role in on-arrival testing; host two community-based, in-person health clinics; help Science Fest go virtual; and see one of our students earn a rare honor.
IUSON BL on campus and in the community
A vitally important initiative
This fall, when Indiana University’s students returned for the fall 2020 semester, they were greeted by a corps of IUSON BL students – wearing their red scrubs – who were assisting in the university’s pre-arrival COVID-19 testing. Working alongside personnel from the IU Health Center, our students took part in a vitally important public health initiative often just read about in textbooks. Their hands-on participation in screening approximately 30,000 returning IU students helped ensure that IU’s students were entering our campus COVID-19-free.
Every precaution was taken to prevent our students from contracting the COVID-19 virus, including providing them with gowns, gloves, goggles, and masks. Rain or shine, our students – and a faculty member supervising the experience – were present each day during move-in for students residing on campus. The COVID-19 arrival testing was conducted outdoors in the parking lot next to IU’s Assembly Hall, with the exception of a few stormy days when testing was moved inside Assembly Hall.
Our student nurses were highly-visible in their red scrubs as they welcomed students and their families to campus, guiding them as they drove through the initial welcome area, and onto the COVID-19 screening. Our students were active in all phases of the screening process, from the initial screening to instructing students on how to collect their own samples, to running the actual COVID-19 test and then delivering the message: “Your test results are negative. You may proceed through the move-in process!” Positive results – along with counseling regarding the next steps for the student – were delivered by the medical team from the Health Center.
A special “thank you” to the IUSON faculty who helped out at the testing site: Mary Allen, Britney Arce, Sonita Ball, Abby Berg, Mary Lynn Davis-Ajami, Kim Decker, Sharon Gates, Dena Klineline, and Deb Smith.
IUSON BL Lecturer Ronda Hendricks coordinated the event for our students. Says Ronda: “The School of Nursing’s participation in the COVID-19 arrival testing was outstanding! Our students contributed a grand total of 543 hours to the testing. This was truly a unique clinical experience for us all. I am so proud of all the students who participated. Everyone worked hard through the heat, the sunshine, and the rain. I heard so many wonderful compliments from the other workers praising the professionalism, willingness to adapt as needed, and the positive attitudes of our students.”
A unique opportunity
At first, Clinical Assistant Professor Britney Arce was discouraged because the plans she made for conducting her students’ fall 2020 community clinical had fallen through because of COVID-19. “But this unfortunate circumstance opened a new opportunity for our nursing students,’ says Britney. “I contacted the Lawrence County Health Department to see if they were open to a partnership for the fall, so that our junior nursing students could still get a great learning experience. They were happy to collaborate on the idea of a free health clinic for the public.”
The initial steps in planning the free health clinics involved determining where they would be located and how to get supplies. “Before the first clinical day with my junior students,” Britney says, “I contacted the Center for Rural Engagement, who provided most of the supplies needed. The Lawrence County Health Department provided the location and the additional supplies needed to set up the free clinics outdoors.”
The initial health clinics focused on blood pressure and blood glucose screenings. Our students were also able to provide those who attended the clinics with information on preventative care, information on healthy lifestyles, and – depending on the results of the screenings – follow-up steps to take with a health care provider. Our students worked together to develop the forms, handouts, promotional information, poster boards, and guidelines to promote and conduct the clinics, while maintaining all CDC COVID-related recommendations and guidelines. “The students did a wonderful job with the planning,” says Britney, with four different groups of students participating in both the planning and execution of the clinics.
The first two free clinics were held in September 2020, with an average of 20-30 people attending the clinics each day. IUSON BL was then contacted by the Hope Resource and Medical Clinic, which added free STD testing to our health clinics. The next two health clinics were held in October at a different location, where we added Naloxone training. “These two additional health clinics had an average of 10-15 people attending them each day,” says Britney.
“These clinics gave our students the unique opportunity to plan a health care event, while maintaining CDC guidelines for the prevention of COVID-19 and keeping the public and themselves safe. An opportunity we identified to serve more people in the future is to allow the free health clinics to extend past 5 pm. I am so grateful for the support provided by our community partners and to serving the community with our students,” she says.
A virtual Science Fest
Like so many other activities that changed during the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s Science Fest (a College of Arts and Sciences event held annually in October) moved to a virtual environment. The result? Science departments and schools across IU Bloomington brainstormed highly creative and, at times, unusual ways to reinvent Science Fest’s typical in-person activities.
For IUSON BL, this meant creating an online Health Academy geared towards students K through 12. Sophomore students in our B234 class (“Promoting Healthy Populations”) recorded inventive group videos, in partnership with IU Health’s statewide Get Onboard Active Living (GOAL) program. Activities covered by our IUSON BL Health Academy included modules about healthy eating, why balanced diets are important, and a group-led exercise that promoted physical activity.
This year’s Science Fest reported such high engagement levels that the College of Arts and Sciences decided to keep the site up-and-running until the end of the school year. You can check out Science Fest (including our IUSON BL Health Academy) here: https://sciencefest.indiana.edu/2020-activities/
A rare honor
Congratulations to IUSON BL junior nursing student Julia Rea on being one of only five IU Bloomington students to be named a 2020 Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) Scholar!
The AHEC Scholars Program is a two-year program designed to improve the inter-professional communication and readiness skills of future health care professionals. The program also focuses on providing care to those living in rural and medically-underserved communities across Indiana. Throughout the 2-year program, Julia will participate in a mix of online training and community-based learning in these rural and underserved communities.
“As someone who was born and raised in a rural Indiana community,” says Julia, “I know first-hand the struggles with health care access that come with living in a small town. I love that, through the Indiana AHEC program, I am able to collaborate and meet other like-minded health profession students. This program is giving me the opportunity to increase my knowledge, develop expertise, and make my own contribution to communities in need.”
Originally from Versailles, IN, Julia says she “loves the decision I made to continue my education at IU. IUSON BL has given me many opportunities and experiences that I am very grateful for and has given me some of my best friends."