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Our Nurses of the Week are eleven nursing students from the George Washington University (GW) School of Nursing who traveled to central Uganda last month to provide medical care and educate local populations about heart health. The nursing students were led by Karen Dawn, assistant professor of Nursing, in partnership with nonprofit health organization Omni Med.

The group of nursing students traveled to the Mukono district of central Uganda where they worked to target, prevent, and treat hypertension and malaria — two leading causes of death in Africa. It was the third trip Dawn has hosted and the group’s first trip to Africa. With the help of Omni Med, the university has expanded the program to work on establishing preventative measures against malaria.

The nursing students delivered educational materials for the village tailored to what community members told the university they needed, including stress management techniques and malaria prevention materials. The students created informational handouts translated into Lugandan, the native language of Mukono. The cohort also focused on educating community members about intimate partner violence.

The group of nursing students will go back to Uganda in March over their spring break to assess the progress made by the village health trainers they worked with in October. Treating patients with high blood pressure remains a top priority for the nursing students because of the low levels of detection in Uganda and high levels of fatality.

To learn more about the George Washington University nursing students who traveled to Uganda last month to provide medical care and educate local populations about heart health, visit here.

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Nurse of the Week: Nursing Student Bethany Moore Designs College Experience to Serve Those Close to Home
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