Ad hoc mission boosts spirits at
Title I school
by Mary Helen
YarboroughPublic Relations
A group of eight College of Nursing students participating in the Population Focused Nursing program discovered that the emotional, mental and physical health of a child can be linked to basic quality of life issues.
CON students are
Rebecca Freeman, back row from left, Brooke Holman, Danny Sailor, Kyle
O'Bryan, Julia Perry and clinical instructor Ellen Murray-Chaffee
(clinical instructor). Front row from left are CON students Elle Dyal,
Wendy Buck, Melissa Palmer and PTA President Clifford Fulmore.The third-semester nursing students were assigned to Burns Elementary in North Charleston to work with the school nurse, James Leung. While conducting health assessments on the children, ages 4 – 12, the school nurse noticed that many of the children wore dirty clothes, the same ones every day. One boy who came in with a toothache had a cavity almost as large as his entire molar. When some children complained of headaches, the school nurse knew it was because they were hungry. Many of these children come to school with an empty stomach. So when the children were given something to eat, their headache disappeared. They also were more settled and were able to concentrate on schoolwork.
These types of observations indicated a general state of poverty from which many of these children came, health illiteracy in their community, and the lack of parental or guardian support at home. These factors coincided with infections and other ailments, undetected learning disabilities, and hearing and vision impairments, the student nurses found.
“It’s not that the parents don’t care,” said Rebecca Freeman, a nurse participant and president-elect of the MUSC Student Nursing Association. “Many of them are working two and three jobs, and they are doing the best they can. Many of them just don’t have the resources to do better.”
CON students
arrange items at the Burns Elementary store. For information on
donating to the school store, e-mail buckw@musc.edu or call 849-1211.Clifford Fulmore, Burns Elementary PTA president, has worked closely with the nursing students. An elementary school teacher, Fulmore currently is on disability recovering from a kidney transplant he received at MUSC. He is working on a grant to ensure that the children whose families lack adequate food will have healthy food to take home with them.
“These children are not only malnourished, they are hungry,” Fulmore said.
Birth of a program
The challenges appeared to swell, but for the MUSC students, tending to the basic needs of the child became an outreach of goodwill and part of the overall wellness solution. This new mission became known as “Ready to Learn.” The idea was that decently-clothed, healthy and well-nourished children would be better able to absorb information needed for academic and social achievement.
Still, a teacher coach at Burns, Janice Lewis-Small, pleaded for books. “Many of our students are two grade levels or more behind in reading,” she said. “Without literacy, no other academic goal can be met.”
Getting a quick grant was out of the question, so Freeman phoned friends for help, and they responded by contributing $1,500. Then nursing student Melissa Palmer tapped her parents for $1,000. The nurses used the funds to purchase colorful, age-appropriate pre-K through second grade Keep Books. (See: http://www.keepbooks.org/home.htm.)
Fulmore then requested clothes as part of establishing a “school store,” which children help manage as part of their education. “It’s not only a cost issue, but a transportation issue. Even if you get them vouchers for Goodwill, it’s hard for them to get there,” he said.
Wendy Buck, a nursing student who also has coordinated outreach efforts on MUSC's campus, went to work collecting clothes, especially school uniforms with colors of red, blue, white and khaki. She contacted schools and hunted the clearance racks of local shops in Mount Pleasant. In a matter of weeks, nice, neat clothes were added to a rack fit for a department store.
“We held two clothing drives, one at Belle Hall Elementary and one at Moultrie Middle School. Guidance counselors Leslie Gulledge from Belle Hall and Sara Hopkins from Moultrie Middle sent notes home with the students, and I was amazed by the results,” Buck said. “The parents, students and teachers really pitched in and collected book bags, clothes and shoes. They jumped at the chance to help, and have really done a wonderful job supporting the effort.”
Meanwhile, many of the children also need glasses. Freeman and her classmates are working with area optometrists to bring refraction and eye health equipment into the school for follow-up on this year’s initial screenings. Next year, they plan to utilize a mobile van with two exam areas to ensure that students are screened quickly. Those who need glasses would be able to receive them in a timely fashion.
“Kids who fail the visual screening are eligible for Title I vouchers that cover the cost of optometry services, including eyeglasses,” Freeman said. “Unfortunately, many parents let the 30-day expiration on the voucher pass because of transportation issues.”
Melissa Palmer organized teaching modules on hand-washing, nutrition and dental hygiene. Because toothbrushes and toothpaste seem like luxury items to some of these families, few of these children have used proper oral hygiene. So the nurses organized toothbrush and toothpaste collections.
“For some of these children, it’s the first time they’ve brushed their teeth,” said Palmer, whose father is a dentist in Greenville. His practice responded by sending a case of toothpaste and tooth brushes for the children.
To promote health awareness among children and their families, nurses introduced them to hand hygiene. “We brought in the glow gel and a black-light and identified places where germs are,” said student nurse Elle Dyal. “They were amazed.”
For safety awareness, the North Charleston Police Department came and made a presentation in each fifth-grade class. More than half of the children acknowledged having been exposed to illicit drugs, so Fulmore is working to establish an after-school program to discourage drug use and promote safe, productive alternative activities.
For the adults, nurses set up a blood pressure booth at the PTA meeting, and offered free screening and information to the parents. About a third of the parents had signs of pre-hypertension or hypertension, the students said.
So much more is needed to help the children whose improved behavior and learning abilities have reflected the effectiveness of the Ready to Learn program.
Fulmore credits the MUSC students with having a powerful impact on the children and the school as a whole. “I don’t know of anyone or any group that has had a greater impact on children like these the way that these MUSC nurse students have,” Fulmore said. “Words simply are not enough to describe how important all of this is to these children, or how much it means to us.”
While the Lowcountry Food Bank and Clemson University Extension Service help supplement the school with food and other support, the nursing students are planning to unite with other colleges in MUSC to provide interdisciplinary support for schools such as Burns Elementary.
Local optometrists Mason Smith, Keith Farley and Larry Richard are working through the MUSC nurses with Burns to expand access to optometry care to the children, including a plan to conduct onsite refractory clinics at all Title I schools in the area. Freeman said that details would be forthcoming.
For those who wish to support the nurses’ work in the community, the students have brought their mission to MUSC’s campus where they hope to collect gently used or new children’s books. Volunteer Services manager Katy Kuder has arranged to have bins placed at each of the hospital’s five information desks and has contributed dozens of children’s books to the program.
Monetary support, which would provide flexibility for the student nurses to purchase what the children need, can be made to the Student Nurses Association, c/o Mardi Long, College of Nursing, Room 307, P.O. Box 250160, Charleston, SC 29425. For more information, e-mail buckw@musc.edu, or call 849-1211.
Friday, Nov. 23, 2007
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