Jacqueline DeBrew's abstract "Help Us Become Nurses: Making a Difference in the Lives of People in Poverty" was accepted as a podium presentation at the 2023 Association of Community Health Nurse Educators/Association of Public Health Nurses joint conference in San Diego, California.
Utilizing funding from an Elon community partnership initiative grant, Associate Professor of Nursing and RN-BSN Coordinator Jacqueline DeBrew joined Partnership Village, a community agency that provides transitional housing to those experiencing homelessness to provide basic health screenings and teaching as part of the clinical requirements for a mental health nursing course.
The process of establishing the partnership and the positive outcomes for both the organization and the students will be shared at the 2023 Association of Community Health Nurse Educators/Association of Public Health Nurses joint conference in San Diego this June.
The community agency never had students, therefore, the students were responsible for building relationships with the residents, assessing their needs and implementing interventions. The students were responsible for deciding how to implement and manage this clinical site, and utilized creative approaches in doing so. One unique approach used for relationship building was to advertise the “wellness clinic” by creating fliers that read “Help Us Become Nurses.”
This sentiment was also communicated to residents when they visited the students for screenings. Students desire to help empower the residents in their own healthcare led to the creation of a self-monitoring blood pressure station, in which the kiosk-style monitor was purchased with funding from the agency and the university, and set up in the agency’s community center. The partnership has been beneficial to the residents, as well as to student learning, and continues to be used as a clinical site for nursing students.