Our Nurses of the Week are the nursing students from West Carolina University’s School of Nursing who volunteered to provide services at a free rural health care clinic in eastern Tennessee. More than 10 students provided patients with medical, dental, and vision care. Over a thousand people attended the free clinic over a period of three days during which the clinic provided an estimated $883,456 in free medical care.
Elizabeth Sexton, WCU assistant professor of nursing and an excursion leader, tells WCU.edu, “These students from community mental health nursing practicum class were up at 4 a.m. to take part in the clinical services. They got exposure to it all, from triaging patients, giving flu shots to helping in the dental and vision areas. They also got to see the big picture. For whatever reason, whether lack of health insurance, lack of resources, inadequate healthy nutrition, poor dental hygiene or substance abuse, the needy individuals were there and seeking help for dental, vision and medical problems, and so appreciative to receive it.”
Remote Area Medical is a nonprofit organization based in Rockford, Tennessee, since 1985 and has held mobile clinics for uninsured and underserved families and individuals, assisted by health care professionals and students. Its mission is to prevent pain and alleviate suffering and to enhance quality of life through the delivery of competent and compassionate health care to those who are impoverished, isolated, and underserved in the US.
To learn more about the West Carolina University nursing students who volunteered to provide healthcare services at Remote Area Medical’s mobile clinic, visit here.
A new nursing program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is aiming to improve access to quality health care in rural and underserved communities. Alabama has a shortage of primary and specialty health care providers, and according to the Bureau of Health Workforce, 66 of 67 counties in the state lack enough dentists and mental health care providers to meet population needs.
The new program will provide 111 students from across the state with firsthand training on how to provide care in rural and underserved areas. The students are from multiple universities and have been selected to participate in the first class of Alabama Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) scholars. The scholars come from a wide range of backgrounds including medicine, nursing, dentistry, pharmacology, social work, and education.
Students in the program will learn about rural medicine and how to serve underserved communities both in and out of the classroom by participating in service projects. UAB plans to train, place, and keep students with varying backgrounds in underserved areas to ensure adequate health care is provided to all people across the state. Diversity is crucial to improving access to health care, which is why UAB has recruited a diverse new cohort of students.
Michael Faircloth, MD, the director of the Alabama Area Health Education Centers program and the medical and lab director of Student Health Services at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, tells UAB.edu, “The focus of the program is to take students who are pursuing careers in various health professions and make sure they receive a portion of their clinical training in rural and underserved areas. Many people think of doctors and nurses when they hear the term health professions, but a successful health care workforce needs more than doctors and nurses. It needs dentists, psychologists, pharmacists, social workers and technologists.”
UAB’s new Alabama Area Health Education Centers scholars will be enrolled in the program for two years, working with leaders in the state’s five AHEC regions. To learn more about UAB’s new program to address health care needs in rural and underserved communities across Alabama, visit here.
