Outreach Efforts in Parma and Lakewood

We started our venture into public health at The Cuyahoga County Board of Health (CCBH) on June 1, 2011. Elisabeth, Kristin, and I were greeted and welcomed by all the nursing staff. Since then, we have integrated ourselves as part of their team. Out of the many departments that the Board of Health entails, our main goal is to provide interventions within our communities that will increase utilization of The Family Planning Clinic, "My Life, My Body". The Family Planning Clinic's main purpose is to provide low to no cost health services for men and women, 13 years old and up. Some of the services include; contraceptives, STI testing and treatment, HIV testing, pregnancy testing, pap smears, sexual health education and/or counseling. This clinic was established by title X grant to provide sexual health services to prevent unplanned and/or teenage pregnancy as well as STI/HIV prevention. As part of an introduction to community outreaching, we have the opportunity to man a table at Parma's Tri-C, west campus. Once a week, on alternating Mondays/Tuesdays from 10am-2pm and 5pm-7pm, we promote and educate the Tri-C students and staff about sexual health through the use of pamphlets, flyers, booklets and resources. Our end goal was to get the members of the community aware of the services available to them and increase utilization of the clinic. This was a relationship in the community that was already established by our preceptor, Sandi Hoch, and in turn gave us a first hand look at what outreaching in the community was like. We are currently working on a new, updated tented poster that will take place of the old poster board shown and have added some informational sheets such as a map with directions to the clinic, and a Mirena/Paraguard info. sheet, etc.. We also plan to outreach to the Parma day cares/learning centers as part of our efforts.

Parma, Ohio has been targeted mainly for its high rate of teen pregnancies. Many efforts and relationships have already been established within this community. Sandi has granted us the autonomy to work together in finding creative ways to market our promotion to other areas of the county. During our assessment of secondary data of Cuyahoga County, we found that the city of Lakewood would also benefit from these services. Interestingly, Lakewood has a rising, high rate of HIV as well as a lack of nearby title X services. With no community partnership with Lakewood, we started on a blank slate. Thus far, we have set aside time to visit Lakewood on a weekly basis to meet the businesses of the community. We started out with a full, detailed listing of all the businesses in Lakewood and aim to visit all of them. We also started thinking about creating a flyer to pass out throughout the residence of Lakewood as well as meeting a community leader that may aid us in printing an ad in their newsletter.


I can't fail to mention our efforts in improving the technology resources at CCBH. We are still in progress of improving the clinic's website found at http://www.ccbh.net/ and facebook page. Everyone is welcomed to visit our sites in the next few weeks and provide feedback!

Even though it took us time to figure out what was expected of us. I feel the experience couldn't be any better without it. I am anxious to see our hard work pay off and meet the goals we set to aim.

My experiences at Great Lakes Home Healthcare and Hospice

I have been working with three nurses from Great Lakes for the past 4 weeks, and they have been amazing. Kailey and I are rotating between med-surg/hospice, mom/baby, and wound care so we have seen a little bit of everything. At first I though we would only be doing vitals and observing, but we have gotten a ton of hands-on experience. I have drawn blood, done physical assessments, and today I even did my first wound vac! We also learned to chart in the laptops and I have been doing the visits by myself. Today the nurse sat back and watched while I did vitals, my assessment and wound care. We also do a lot of teaching regarding diets for wound healing, care for babies that have jaundice, etc.

My first day I was with the med-surg/hospice nurse, and our first patient was actively dying. Although I was not there when she passed away, it was interesting to see how the role of the nurse shifts. Since that day, we have had two more patients pass away, one of which I was there for. It was very sad to see the family so emotional, but I am glad I got to experience it. It gave me a much deeper insight into how a nurse bonds with families and what to do/say in a time of grieving. I have also attended a seminar on crisis intervention, hospice team meeting, and a luncheon at the new women's hospital.

I have already had a lot of great experiences and am very excited for the rest of the summer.

NYSP beginings

My capstone is the NYSP camp taking place on Case campus. It has been going very well and is proving to be a very rewarding experience. We began on June 1, a week and a half before camp, to set up, meet the staff, and prepare the grounds for the campers. We did things like moving equipment, decorating the gym, and helping out with registration. All campers had to complete forms and have a medical exam performed. Nursing students got to take all their blood pressures....that is 400 campers! The staff has been great to work, and I am making many new friendships.

A basic camp day begins at 7:30 with sign-in, staff meetings, and camper attendance, and ends at 2:30 on most days. Sometimes the kids have special afternoon events that end at 5pm. We have all been assigned to one of the 12 groups, which are based on age. Campers are ages 10-16. My role this half has been education, which has gone very well. My topic is physical activity and I am working with Frank and Alaina. We taught about BMI, calories and weight control, cardiac health, sports injuries, muscles and stretching, and tips to stay active inside and outside. We had fun with these lessons and made them very interactive by incorporating dancing games, jeopardy, skits, role play, and even Yoga. The kids can be trying at times, but they are all excited to be there, curious, and want to learn what we are teaching.