Urban Service Track Events and Activities

• The Urban Service Track has partnered with the National Kidney Foundation to provide screenings for the Kidney Early Evaluation Program (KEEP). At the KEEP Screenings, Urban Health Scholars work with Physician Assistant students from Quinnipiac University, as well as NKF and volunteer medical personnel, to provide blood pressure and weight measurements, blood and urine tests for signs of diabetes and kidney disease. The goals of the KEEP Program are to:
  • Raise awareness about kidney disease especially among “high risk” individuals
  • Provide free testing for people at increased risk for kidney disease
  • Encourage people “at risk” to visit a doctor and follow the treatment plan recommended
  • Provide educational information so that “at risk” individuals can prevent or delay kidney damage
  • Provide doctor referrals for follow-up care, if needed.

KEEP Screenings rotate throughout the state at different times for the year. At the American Diabetes Expo held on Saturday April 19th at the Hartford Expo Center, 94 clients were screened. Urban Health Scholars participating in the April 19th KEEP screening were: Jessica Arter (SON), Katie Crevier (SON), Chi-Chi Anyanwu (SOPH), Sarah Hooker (SOPH), Ana Martinez (SOPH) and Abdullah Wardak (SOPH).

• Urban Service Track volunteered at the Mission of Mercy (MOM) community outreach activity held in Tolland, CT on April 11-13, 2008. MOMs have been held across the United States and provide much needed dental care for Americans who have limited or no insurance. An event was held in Denver, Colorado last October. (http://www.cdaonline.org/COMOM.htm). Dr. Ruth Goldblatt from UConn’s School of Dental Medicine is one of the program planners for the CT MOM. More than a 1000 patients were seen by dental care professionals who volunteered their time. To learn more about the CT event check the website: http://www.csda.com/ctmom/ctmom4.html.
  
• Eleven students representing the four health professions disciplines, as well as two faculty from the UCONN Urban Service Track attended the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) Annual Policy Forum in Washington D.C. on March 12-14, 2008. UST scholars had the unique opportunity to observe advocacy and policy development firsthand when they recently joined forces on Capitol Hill with a delegation of administrators and clinicians briefing Connecticut legislators on the state of community health care.
  The group of health professions students was in the nation’s capitol to participate in the National Association of Community Health Center’s (NACHC) Annual Policy and Issues Forum from March 12-14, according to Petra Clark-Dufner, director of UConn’s Urban Service Track program. The students were invited to participate in the legislative educational sessions by organizer Evelyn Barnum, Executive Director of the Community Health Center Association of Connecticut. Clark-Dufner and UConn Medical School Associate Dean for Primary Care Bruce Gould, MD also took part.
  During the NACHC forum, the 11 students attended plenary and issue-focused sessions as well as a presentation by Acting Surgeon General of the United States Rear Admiral Steven K. Galson, MD, MPH. The UConn representatives also met with leaders of the NACHC and the US Department of Health and Human Services.
  “The scholars were empowered by the experience and came away with a broader view of the role of health providers across disciplines relative to improving patient outcomes and system resources,” Gould said.
  Dr. Tom Curtain, President of NACHC was “thrilled to have UConn Urban Health Scholars at our annual meeting. Their passion was obvious, and we look at them and see the future leaders in our movement.”
  “Attending the 2008 NACHC forum gave me a greater understanding of the issues and barriers affecting community health centers (CHC),” said Jessica Johnson, a first-year medical student. “The education sessions showed us the breadth of the issues surrounding CHCs and delivering care to the underserved, while the hill visits reinforced the importance of patient advocacy and the advocacy role we can fulfill as health professions students.”
  Sarah Hooker, a senior in the School of Pharmacy, said, “I now have a greater awareness of the needs of the community health centers and the patients they serve. I am hopeful that this knowledge will help me in my future career.”
  All of the Urban Health Scholars agreed that the NACHC Policy and Issues Forum helped raise their awareness about the role and importance of collaborative health care. First-year dental student Kevon Rennie aptly summed up the feelings of his UST peers when he said that as future health care providers they should strive to “help each other to identify problems and direct patients to the most effective care possible” by working across disciplines to provide quality, patient-centered care.
  More information about The Policy Forum and NACHC: http://www.nachc.com
  
  
• On March 5th, 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., Urban Health Scholars participated in an event at the Legislative Office Building aimed to promote awareness and education about oral health issues for older adults. Sponsored by the Connecticut Task Force on Oral Health Issues for Older Adults, the event included the release of the Task Force’s report "Just the F.A.C.T.S” as well as general screenings and education about issues affecting the overall health of older adults. The event was called "Come and E.A.T." (Education, Advocacy, Treatment). Students enrolled in UConn’s Urban Service Track and Schools of Pharmacy and Nursing as well as Quinnipiac University’s Physician Assistant Program, provided glucose and blood pressure screenings. For more information about the event, link to: http://www.ct.gov/dph/site/default.asp or www.ct.gov/dph.
  
  
• Urban Service Track is one of the collaborators in the University of Connecticut’s Prevention Outreach Project (UCPOP). The project promotes interprofessional teaming of health profession students in prevention outreach activities in the greater Hartford community. The University of Connecticut is one of fourteen institutions that received funding from the Association of Prevention Teaching and Research (APTR) for community based prevention education and interprofessional education. UCPOP has two components – the first, being outreach and screenings at 11 community sites as part of National Primary Care Week and the second, community education programs focusing on hypertension, diabetes and nutrition.
  See the UCPOP poster presented at the 2008 Preventive Medicine Conference