Nursing, Counseling and Fitness - For Life!

Community-Based Nursing Outreach.  As part of the Center's Wellness Clinic initiative, students in the Associate Degree in Nursing program in Professors Sonia Cunningham and Betsy Freeth's classes participated in two Buena Vida neighborhood health festivals.  At these two events the students provided a variety of free services to over 500 neighborhood adults and children, including vision screening, blood pressure checks and blood sugar screenings.  The events were totally coordinated by the students who also called local clinics, pharmacies and hospitals to donate the materials needed for the event.  Congratulations Professors Cunningham and Freeth and the ADN students for a job well-done!!

The Buena Vida Counselors.  Dr. Selma D. Yznaga, Director of the UTB/TSC Counseling  Clinic, has formed the Brownsville Buena Vida Counselors(Rene Atkinson, Michelle Lazorko, and Alma Munoz) to volunteer every Tuesday evening in this new initiative to help families with parenting and wellness topics.  “This is really good,” said Maria Calderon, a Buena Vida resident and mother of three children. “Even if these are basic services, it would help to prevent illnesses that sometimes get worse because of a lack of a lack of early treatment.”

“Improving Care at the End of Life” -- Ms. Betsy Freeth, MSN, RN (Associate Master Technical Instructor, Associate Degree Nursing Program).  Five educational presentations, incorporating materials from the ELNEC (End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium) curriculum, were both planned and given by the students over a two week period in March.  20 second-year ADN students, from two sections of RNSG 2360, participated. Students were divided into groups and oriented to the process of service-learning and the ELNEC (End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium) curriculum during the course of several class meetings. Group activities were conducted to enable the students to get in touch with their feelings about death and dying, as well as to learn how to give a professional presentation. Five educational presentations, incorporating materials from the ELNEC (End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium) curriculum, were both planned and given by the students over a two week period in March.  The students were able to speak at facilities in Harlingen: Encore RV Park and Park Place Estates (Assisted Living); Brownsville: Mother of Perpetual Help Nursing Home and Spanish Meadows Nursing Home; and Olmito: Sunshine Haven Hospice. Students were able to speak to audiences of professionals, ancillary health care staff, facility residents, family members, and the general public. Students commented that this experience enabled them to learn much more about the importance of making informed choices about end-of-life care; the needs of the community; their own feelings about death and dying, and how to work together in a group.

Resources

American Diabetes Association - Virtual Grocery Store
(with Recipes, Meal Planner and Shopping Lists)