Registered nursing students at the University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville are looking to make a meaningful impact on the community by making multiple community health presentations designed to educate the public on a variety of health topics.
The Community Health Project Collaborative, coordinated and organized by RN faculty Amy Bullard and Simulation Coordinator Elizabeth Anderson, partnered students with the Batesville Community Center, Batesville High School, Southside High School, and White River Medical Center to complete projects based on community needs.
“My word for the year is meaningful,” Bullard said. “I wanted our community service projects to have more meaning for our students. I wanted them to be more involved, give back to the community, and work on becoming more comfortable talking with strangers and working with different groups of people. Nursing is education. There is not a part of nursing that does not involve being an educator. Building strong educators is part of building strong nurses.”
Bullard said Anderson developed a set of guidelines for the community collaborative project. Students’ projects had to meet certain criteria including addressing a real community need or problem; proving the student had the opportunity to provide a meaningful and vital community service; allowing the student to gain a greater understanding of the community need on which they are working; and providing the opportunity for continuity of service and/or participation during the students’ experience. Each student is required to complete a total of eight community service hours per semester, four of which must be from project development and presentations.
Online students will have a similar experience to those in the traditional program track.
“Our online students will upload their presentations to our collaborative partners’ websites. I want them to have the benefit of having the public view their work and being able to grow from that experience,” Bullard said.
The schedule of presentations open to the public is as follows:
Batesville Community Center series
Feb. 25 – Healthy Weight Maintenance
Mar. 4 – Osteoporosis
Mar. 11 – Nutritional Health
Presentations begin at 6 p.m.
WRMC
Feb. 27 – Osteoporosis, 11 a.m., Conference Room A
For more information, call (870) 612-2063 or email amy.bullard@uaccb.edu.
Article By Hannah Keller Flanery
UACCB Communications and Marketing Coordinator
