June 1, 2024

It was a nice and brisk summer morning. The sun was out, the birds were chirping, and the sound of feet were pattering from OSU and Norwegian Nursing students as we made our way to St. Sophia’s Orthodox Church. Spending a Saturday morning at a church may not be ideal for some, but for us we got to help many homeless individual with feet hygiene, blood pressure, and blood sugar screenings.

St. Sophia’s Orthodox Church

When we arrived, we were greeted by the Archbishop of the church, Mor Cassianus. He explained what they do for the community and how it included created a safe haven for homeless individuals. He mentioned that they are open everyday to the public and provide free breakfast and lunch for anyone who needs it. He also emphasized the importance of health concerns for the homeless community such as nutrition and their feet health. Feet health is important for homeless individuals because it prevents infections/amputations due to frostbite or untreated diabetes. Another importance is that homeless individuals rely on their feet to walk from place to place to seek shelter and care for themselves. Once a month they hold these “feet washing” events with nursing students to help prevent these type of injuries. We also took blood pressures and sugars to assess if these individuals need higher level of care. We got to know these individuals as they confided in us to tell us their stories and why they became homeless in general. It was a genuine experience because many people suffer from homelessness in the U.S. and there is such a negative stigma surrounding it. According to Sustainable Development Goal 1.5 states, “By 2030, build the resilience of the poor and those in vulnerable situations and reduce their exposure and vulnerability to climate-related extreme events and other economic, social and environmental shocks and disasters.” This is what the church aims to do. They want these individuals to seek shelter at their church and get the resources that they need while also avoiding the harsh conditions of the outside world.

Ruby the Emotional Support Church Dog

Overall, this was a great experience because I never thought about the importance of feet hygiene especially within the homeless population. It was great to be a part of and many of the homeless individuals were grateful and happy to see us. It also was nice to show the Norwegian students a not so pretty side of our community because unfortunately the U.S. does have more homeless individuals than Norway does. They were able the witness what type of resources we provide for these individuals and actually help them too.

OSU and Norway sharing a clinical together!!

May 23, 2024

Today, Raegan, Jenni, I and carpooled once again to the lovely city of Springfield. We woke up bright and early to beat the traffic and stop by Schuler’s for a delicious donut (Thanks, Bri for the recommendation!). Then, we headed to the schools to get started on the hearing and vision screens. Jenni and I were assigned to screen kindergarteners at Perrin Woods and let me just say it was an eventful and fun day.

Springfield delicacy!

We were greeted by Nurse Donna and she taught us the ins and outs of vision and hearing screenings. She also mentioned the great program that Springfield implements for low income families. This includes free breakfast and lunch for all the kiddos, free school supplies, and they pay for families to live there which includes having their kids join the school systems. Sustainable Development Goal 1.3 states, “Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable.” I have never heard of a program like Springfield implements and they definitely are protecting the poor and the vulnerable in any way they can. Perrin Woods also is creating a Spanish/English classroom next year to help the students learn better for those who still can’t speak English well enough. Nurse Donna said she estimates about 2,000 new students will be joining their district next year just because of Springfield’s program. This will probably cause a lot stress on the teachers and faculty but I believe that they are shaping these young minds for the better.

Learning all of this got Jenni and I excited for the day as we dove into screening these kindergarteners. They definitely kept us on our toes as many of them did not want to be there on their last day of school (I don’t blame them) and some were having a little too much fun with it. However, it was a very cool experience and we were able to adapt to the students who didn’t speak English or simply were afraid to talk to us. I was able to utilize my Spanish minor and pointing skills as they were very beneficial to helping identify these shapes. Everyone passed the vision screenings and only two failed the hearing screenings. I call that a successful day! I definitely don’t remember doing these screenings at school but I was very glad to be a part of it. Again, school nurses do a lot for these school systems and I was happy to help Nurse Donna and she was definitely grateful for us to take some of the load off her plate.

Hearing Screening Tools!

Vision Screening Tools!

This week we had the pleasure to work with New Albany Plain Local Schools where we were able to play school nurses for the day. Four of us were assigned to separate buildings including the Early Learning Center, Primary, Intermediate, and High School. It turns out that school nurses do a lot more than give bandaids and handout ice packs (although, many students still came in for those).

Community clinical is more fun when you carpool!

I was assigned to work with Nurse Joy at the Early Learning Center where the Pre-K and Kindergarten students have tons of fun and learn so much. Our day started off pretty bloody as a Pre-K student came in with a busted, bloody lip that was an aftermath of pushing a classmate on a swing and it backfiring, hitting her in the face. Crisis was averted as we applied some pressure with gauze, rinsed with water, and provided some handy dandy ice. That was probably the craziest thing that happened today, other than that, everything was very chill and steady.

Nurse Joy explained her day to day process which included monitoring a student’s diabetes where we would give her insulin (if needed) during her snack time and during lunch. Today, the kiddo’s sugar was declining faster than our liking before snack time and we gave her a pick me up Starburst (4 g of carbs) to bring it up. Nurse Joy also administers medications that are needed such as inhalers and ADHD medications. She is also responsible for hearing and vision screenings in the beginning of the year and keeps track of all of the vaccinations that are needed to attend the school. With her background in trauma nursing, she is the person to call for any medical emergency such as seizures (this happened this year) or broken limbs (I saw many students with casts). Teacher and faculty CPR training was taught by her, as well. Overall, she is an incredible asset to the school and everyone loves her!

Very fun visual for the kiddos at the clinic!

I forgot how germy kids can be! Most of these kids are snotty, coughing everywhere, and covered in dirt from recess. One major health concern would be how fast communicable diseases could spread in the classroom. It made me wonder how teachers and nurses handled the COVID outbreak. Nurse Joy definitely mentioned how it was a very tough time and it consisted of a lot of COVID testing, contact tracing, and keeping track of quarantines. Sustainable Development Goal 4(Quality Education) states that ,”The pandemic caused learning losses in 4 in 5 og 104 countries studied.” This is why it is important to keep very sick kids at home to prevent an outbreak in the school. It will prevent many students from missing school and protect the teachers, as well. Kids are also notorious for trying to home from school from “tummy aches” and other excuses to miss class. Nurse Joy did a great job at comforting these students giving them options to use the bathroom, enjoy a snack, or simply rest in the clinic for a little bit. She didn’t send any kids home and this will definitely protect their learning.

Overall, I really enjoyed this experience and it was very nostalgic for me as I haven’t been inside of a school (that wasn’t a college) in a very long time. Seeing all of these kids with very oversized backpacks having fun learning was cute to see! It was great to be on the nurse’s side of the clinic and not the student. I never knew how much a school nurse did for students and what they put up with. Nurse Joy was very patient with the students that came for very simple things. Although, I am on the Adult-Gerontology Primary Care track, I learned a lot from these kiddos and Nurse Joy that I will take to practice with me in the future.

The school focuses on mental health and emotions for the kids