NWTC Service-Learning and Civic Engagement 2017-2018 | Page 22

E D U C AT I O N A L O U T R E A C H
CHILDREN/YOUTH, EDUCATION, HEALTH SERVICES
District Highlight: Marinette
Providing health education and screening services
throughout the Marinette Public School District.
Associate Degree Nursing and
Practical Nursing students
completing their education at the
newly renovated NWTC Marinette
Campus have access to state-
of-the-art technology and the
opportunity to participate in a long
history of sharing their skills and
knowledge with children throughout
the Marinette Public School District.
This collaboration has taken many
forms over the past 15 years, with
students consistently providing health
screenings and education for children
throughout a broad spectrum of
development. According to faculty
member Lynda Rastall, this robust
service-learning relationship can be
attributed to “A really great partnership
that we have with the schools. Everyone
from the teachers, administrators, and
the school nurse have been really open
to collaborating.”
21
In the course Clinical Care Across the
Lifespan, students work alongside the
Marinette Public School District’s on
staff school nurse to provide vision
screenings for children in 2nd, 4th,
and 6th grade.
The annual screening of over 550
children would have typically taken
two weeks to accomplish, however
was completed in only two days with
the assistance of 8 NWTC students.
While participating in the vision
screenings nursing students were
able to interact with and observe
multiple developmental stages, while
comparing and assessing multiple
age groups of children.
In another collaborative effort
students served over 300 children
at Sunrise Learning Center teaching
handwashing and personal hygiene
topics. The need for this specific
health education was requested by
the school’s teachers, motivating
NWTC students to create quality
presentations and other interactive
demonstrations to teach children
the importance of personal hygiene
and handwashing.
Practical Nursing students also
engage regularly in service-learning.
In the Nursing Health Promotion
course, students provided hands only
CPR training and taught the Heimlich
abdominal thrust maneuver to over
250 children in the 5th grade touring
the campus.
Utilizing certified mannequins for
both demonstrations, the students
also presented on topics related to
the signs of choking, actions to take
if a peer collapses, and the value
of chest compressions in
emergency situations.