Students in the Belmont University School of Pharmacy Classes 2013 and 2015 participated in a “Trunk or Treat” service project for Renewal House this week. Renewal House is a community where women diagnosed with the disease of addiction undergo comprehensive treatment. Not only does the professional staff at Renewal House serve women battling this disease, but they foster healing, resiliency and educational enhancement for all members of the patient’s family. Students dressed in costume and provided an afternoon of entertainment for the children living at Renewal House.
Monthly Archives: October 2011
Students Pilot Project with InspireHealth
Belmont University students are working with a local nonprofit organization to create a national template for communities to improve their residents’ body, heart, mind and spirit using free resources.
In early October, Adjunct Instructor Dane Anthony’s freshman seminar “The Art of Paying Attention” classes worked with Neighborhoods InspireHealth to interview senior citizens in the Sunnyside and 12South neighborhoods. Together the students and nonprofit conducted the first focus group to determine the biggest healthcare challenges facing seniors. The focus group launches a 12-month project within the neighborhoods where students will meet with residents from various demographics.
“Interviewing this community of people widened my eyes to who I was as a part of the world. It was helpful to be a part of this process because it made me realize my role in the community and how important it is to become involved. This process taught me to pay attention to myself, others and the community as a whole,” said Sophie Martin, a freshman studying exercise science, who added that she learned more in casual conversations with the seniors than while asking the assigned questions.
“The amount of rich knowledge and wisdom with which they spoke about their personal experiences was heartwarming. Just in one simple hour I felt I had gained more from a conversation with strangers than I had in a semester of school. They were full of advice on how to avoid certain health issues as we aged, hints on where to go in town, and simply to live life to its fullest,” Martin said. “I left that morning feeling as if I had learned how to appreciate life more than ever before. I am forever grateful to have been presented with this amazing opportunity for self-growth and to have met such exquisite individuals.”
Student worked in groups to weave through the narratives they captured and to look for solutions for overarching themes, such as lack of transportation, access to healthy food options and financial constraints on a fixed income.
“A number of the things that we do in the course are to identify things that contribute to your world view and things that you take for granted. This was a great exercise for them to realize the things that they may take for granted, such as healthcare, insurance, means of income, access to transportation,” Anthony said. “The students were excited that this is the initial project for something they hope will become a national model. We had an opportunity to participate on the ground floor.”
Students will present their findings and propose solutions to Neighborhoods InspireHealth on Oct. 20.
“Having worked on projects with Belmont in the past, the president of the Sunnyside Association first suggested working with the university, and then actually helped us out by setting up an introduction. We were very excited to work with Belmont because we knew how service oriented it is, and honestly we feel as if the University is simply an extension of the neighborhood so it seemed like a great match,” said Heather Dubuque, Neighborhoods InspireHealth’s vice president of marketing and communications. “One of our main goals is to bring all of the different parts of our community together, so bringing the students in to work with the seniors, growing families, teenagers, shut ins, artists is another step towards reaching that goal.”
Neighborhoods InspireHealth President Dana El Gammal said Belmont students’ participation in this initial focus group will drive the direction of the pilot program. The nonprofit launched its 7 Habits of Healthy Neighborhoods program in August with a plan to create a template that provides all of the tools necessary for others communities to execute it successfully. The pilot program will conclude next summer.
“We chose to launch the community initiative within the 12South/Sunnyside community not only because as an organization we are connected to it, but because of its diverse group of people, the active neighborhood associations, the compassionate business community that has been growing within it, and the resources we knew already existed,” Dubuque said. “The whole intent of the program is to learn, assess and create avenues that help the entire community reach their health goals and obtain the health tools necessary to becoming their healthiest self.”
Belmont students earn trip to national Clinical Pharmacy Challenge
Students from Belmont University School of Pharmacy are among eight elite teams competing in this weekend’s national Clinical Pharmacy Challenge in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Sponsored by the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP), the competition began weeks ago with student teams from 86 pharmacy schools throughout the United States. The Belmont team has advanced through several online rounds of competition and will face a team from Campbell University School of Pharmacy on Saturday in the national quarterfinals. If they continue to win, they will advance to the semifinals on Sunday afternoon and finals on Monday morning. Each match is divided into 3 segments: a trivia/lightning segment, a clinical case segment, and a Jeopardy-style segment.
Members of Belmont’s team include: Kimberly Bentley, a third-year student; Rebecca Lucas, a fourth-year student; and Lee Rembert, a fourth-year student. Team alternates include: John Barnwell and Cortney Manning, both third-year students. Serving as faculty sponsors for the team are Dr. Cathy Ficzere and Dr. Rachel Franks.
According to Dr. Ficzere, “Our students would not be able to accomplish what they have done without the foundation they have received here at Belmont. The questions that they have to answer cover almost every aspect of pharmacy practice. They must draw upon knowledge of pharmacologic and pharmacokinetic drug activity, current recommendations for drug therapy, and biostatistics and clinical trial design. Added to this, they must answer the questions as a team, under time constraints, and, in some cases, choosing the best answer, not a ‘black-and-white’ right answer.”
Dr. Philip Johnston, School of Pharmacy Dean, added: “We are in some tough company in the finals, but we have been competing with well established schools in all the previous rounds and obviously scoring very well. What is so impressive to me is that we have students competing who have not completed all of their electives nor their final clinical rotations, yet are showing they have great critical thinking skills, work well as a team, and can apply their knowledge. We are absolutely thrilled with the success of the team, the faculty coaches and supporters, and happy that this reflects well on Belmont.”
The other six teams in the quarterfinals, in addition to those from Belmont and Campbell, are from pharmacy schools at Butler University, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, University of the Pacific, University of Utah, and Western University of Health Sciences.
More information about the competition and results this weekend can be found at www.accp.com/stunet.
UPDATE: The Belmont University School of Pharmacy rose above 85 competing schools to rank No. 5 in a national pharmacy and clinical skills competition. The team lost to Campbell University College of Pharmacy by less than 300 points in the quarter-final match. Both teams were quick on the buzzer and displayed a broad knowledge of clinical pharmacy. Ultimately, the winner of the match came down to the last 300 point question.
Wofford named principal co-investigator for community health project
Dr. Linda Wofford, Associate Professor in the School of Nursing, recently was named as co-principal investigator for Project Diabetes, an eleven-month grant from the State of Tennessee to impact obesity rates and diabetes incidence in the high risk African American school-aged population.
The grant will evaluate an existing after-school program at McGruder Family Resource Center in north Nashville, and will include participation from Belmont undergraduate and graduate nursing students. The program uses the CASTLES curriculum to help the children increase their physical activity, develop skills to improve nutritional choices, and improve self-esteem related to school performance. In addition to evaluation of the existing after-school program, the long-term focus is to impact a community identified need (increasing childhood obesity) with a sustainable community-based program.
The program includes several community partners: McGruder Family Resource Center, United Way, Matthew Walker Comprehensive Health Center, Metro Nashville Public Schools, Vanderbilt Center for Health Services, and Belmont University School of Nursing.
College of Health Sciences hosts health fair
Fourth-year pharmacy student Elizabeth Cain spent Wednesday morning using free hand sanitizer to lure passers-by to visit her peers at Belmont’s first Health Fair. The fair offered an unprecedented opportunity for Cain’s classmates to gain hands-on experience while on campus, she said.
“This is a great opportunity for students to test their skills, give flu shots and glucose tests. It is a great way for us to share our knowledge,” said Cain while volunteering at the fair. “It is a free service with informative information, and it showcases the graduate schools that are taking part.”
Students and faculty from the Gordon E. Inman College of Health Sciences & Nursing joined with University Health Services to host the five-hour Health Fair which put wellness and preventive health resources within reach of employees and students with free health screenings, pamphlets and prizes. The event in the McWhorter Hall and the Inman Center lobbies marked the launch of a year of monthly seminars on health and wellness as well as current events in health care. It also showed people the unique resources we have right here on our campus, said Director of Health Services Katy Wilson.
“We wanted to make people aware of programs we have and wellness opportunities in the Belmont community,” said Christin Murphy, a graduate assistant in the Department of Fitness and Recreation. She took the body mass index of people who stopped at her booth and encouraged them to lower their numbers by signing up for personal training sessions and fitness classes in Beaman.
“It is important to get out to students that health care is important at any age. This fair could persuade undergrads to consider careers in the health sciences field,” said fourth-year pharmacy student Amanda Harris.
“We are developing a drug education program and need to conduct surveys on drug abuse on college campuses,” said third-year pharmacy student Jaime Tausend, also head of Generation Rx, a patient care project through the American Pharmacy Association that educates people about prescription drug abuse prevention. “The fair lets me reach out to college kids I would not see in the community and get the word out to faculty and staff to help us jump start our program”
The Health Fair coincided with lectures on bath salt abuse, building relationships with healthcare providers and total-body wellness for colleges students. During “10 Things Every College Student Needs to Know About Their Health,” physical therapy students discussed healthy eating, gym etiquette and sleep deprivation as well as shared free smart phone applications to help students tract their calorie intake and jogging routes.
Opportunities throughout the day included: blood pressure, glucose, lipids and bone density screenings; backpack awareness and CPR demonstrations; and information on tobacco cessation, breast cancer awareness, counseling, healthy eating, self defense and recreation.
Wilson said Health Services plans to host a similar health fair during a spring basketball game to reach Belmont’s neighbors and sports fans.
Pharmacy students complete service project
Students in the Belmont University School of Pharmacy Classes 2013 and 2015 recently participated in a service project for Preston Taylor Ministries. This non-profit organization serves students (K-12) in the local area by providing educational and faith-based initiatives. Preston Taylor Ministries was founded in 1998 to confront problems such as drug use, gang related activities, teenage pregnancy, illiteracy and poor school performance. The Belmont students donated cleaning supplies and their time to make this a welcoming and safe environment for all those who attend after school programs.