Once completed the participant had to option of having a hot grab-and-go lunch served by faculty and students . The day of the event was extremely cold and raining so several participants took the option to sit in the warmth of the dining area . The socially distance dining gave students an opportunity to engage in therapeutic conversations with the participants . A total of 68 individuals completed the health fair event . The weather did hamper individuals from participating ; all left over products remained at the HUB to be distributed as needed by the staff that volunteer each week .
How Students Viewed the Experience As part of this event , nursing students were asked to share their impressions of the day with a short anonymous survey . The recurrent theme in the survey responses was that it was a blessing to share their student knowledge and help those in need while putting their nursing skills to the test and receiving clinical hours by completing this project . The students also commented that they had no idea that this rural community had so much poverty . They indicated that this event provided them an opportunity to truly understand that nursing is a serving profession and that to have a servant ’ s heart means more than just providing nursing care , but to care for the entire person both body and soul . Students also shared that , with their knowledge of the health needs , many plan to volunteer for future medical mission trips and to seek out community needs in the future to give back to the communities where they will be serving as nurses .
COVID Clinics The development of COVID vaccines provided an additional opportunity for the seniors to work in concert with area hospitals and the medical school that is housed on the campus . The health department depends heavily on our nursing students to assist each fall with mass flu clinics so it was not a reach that nursing students and their faculty would be called upon to assist with this historical event by administering the first vaccines in the state . Over the course of several months , we have provided the manpower to make these large events happen . These organized nurse-driven clinicals have become a daily event at the hospitals and recently at the university since the governor has increased the eligibility to give the vaccine to anyone who would like to receive it . Our students have provided hundreds of vaccines while working at these clinics . Our nursing students continue asking faculty what they can do to help during this pandemic . The faculty hopes that we have instilled in students the need to give back to their profession , and it seems to have paid off .
Conclusions These events have aided in molding the nursing students and provided them a new appreciation for what it means to be in a serving profession . Community health nursing provides students with an opportunity to provide not just acute care needs for a patient but to look at the overall patient and meet their basic needs of food , comfort , safety and restore the homeless patient ’ s faith that people do care about them . The pandemic has not erased poverty . In fact , it is shown a light on poverty and the hope that it may someday be extinguished . Nursing allows for us to bridge the gap and have therapeutic healing conversations while providing care regardless of an individual ’ s socioeconomic status . Faculty should seek out these types of events when possible for nursing students , with a goal to work towards making every patient count this is the first step in the amazing profession we call nursing . n
Elizabeth S . Nix , PhD , MSN , APRN , CNS , CDCES , is a tenured full professor at Arkansas State University . She holds a PhD in Public Health and is certified as an Advanced Practice Nurse and Certified Diabetes Educator . Dr . Nix has 35 years of experience as a nurse and 18 years as a nursing professor .
Bilinda Norman , DNP , APRN- CNS , CDCES , is an associate professor at Arkansas State University ( A-State ), Jonesboro , AR . She is an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse with Clinical Nurse Specialist certification and is a Certified Diabetes Clinical Education Specialist . She serves as co-coordinator of the A-State Diabetes Selfmanagement program and is on the board of directors for the A-State Dietetics and Nutrition program as well as Vice President of the Jonesboro Church Health Center .
Teresa Clark , DNP , FNP-BC , CRRN , is an assistant professor at Arkansas State University College of Nursing & Health Professions , Jonesboro , AR . She practiced as a Family Nurse Practitioner ( FNP ) for five years before going in to higher education . Clark is a certified rehabilitation registered nurse ( CRRN ). Rehab is still her passion .
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