Final Service Learning Blog

• As an educated, privileged citizen in our society, what is your role in creating a society rooted in equality and justice? Do you feel you have a responsibility and why or why not?
• What have you learned about yourself and what are your future plans? 

While working with the Lake Charles SRT Team as a medic, I feel that my service learning time was a great success. As a volunteer and commissioned officer I was able to provide medical support and participate in training with the SRT. It was an honor to be a part of this team in meeting my communities needs as well as providing medical attention and protection to this team as they protect and serve! I worked to provide medical support during training missions and during operational missions including serving arrest warrants and drug raids. It was exciting to be a part of the team and train along side them. I was exposed to an underserved population of community leaders and protectors as well as exposed to those people in society who take, steal, and rob and have no interest in just or equality. It is difficult to grasp the idea of serving the community and those around us, while realizing that some if these individuals are simply playing by their own rules. Many of those who are hurt or victimized by criminals are vulnerable and underserved, and as one may imagine quite diverse. From rich to poor and all races, we dealt with different cultures and beliefs on every operation and even within the team members.

I believe I have a large responsibility in the provision of good medical care to my patients, the SRT team and the community as I serve along side the SRT team members. More important than providing good care is in educating those persons on better health behaviors and helping them to understand their responsibility in their own care. Justice is created, not by giving free services and things to people, but rather in providing education and giving of oneself in a caring manner. This can create a society that is better educated and understands that consumption requires labor as well. If we are to make poor health choices (freely) then those around us should not have to pay for our choices. It is difficult but education and responsibility are the two main weapons in creating equality and justice. It will be difficult for everyone to understand these ideas but it can help to move in a direction of better health choices, better health outcomes, and decreased healthcare costs. It is funny how this mirrors many of the situations in society that I have been exposed to while working with the SRT team. Those who take and hurt others for their own selfish wants, create higher costs and problems for those who are trying to live in a manner that is respectful and considerate of others. It is the good people in society and those like the Lake Charles Police officers who are working hard to balance the scales of justice and equality.

In the future, it is my hope to continue to be a part of the SRT team as a medical provider and trainer. I believe it is a responsibility of mine to give back to society. I am blessed and privileged and understand the needs and problems that surround me. I do not take this obligation lightly, but I haven’t taken the 9 years of hard work in educating myself to be in this position lightly either! I will continue to press forward and educating patients and giving compassionate care to everyone I come in contact with in my professional role and my role as medic for the SRT Team!

Midterm Service Learning Blog

For this semester, I have been fortunate to have a new and exciting service learning experience. I am working with the Lake Charles Police Departments Special Response Team (SRT). This is equivalent to what other areas refer to as SWAT or SOG teams. The team is designed to enter into special operation missions to provide protection or apprehend criminals. They are trained in special weapon systems and tactics for situations including: hostage rescue, serving high risk warrants, entering active shooter situations, crowd control, long range pursuit and apprehension, and even effective use of K-9 officers. My role in this group is as a medic or medical provider. I am trained and continue to train in weapons use and active shooter situations.  This is an important aspect of training as I may be required to enter into high-risk situations to aid a down civilian, officer, or suspect. I have also attended tactical medic courses to better understand the medical needs that are specific to this type of situation.

This group or team is underserved as they do not have direct medical participation or support in the many dangerous environments that the serve in. As a volunteer and commissioned officer, I can and do provide close medical support during missions as well as first aide services in training situations. I have learned the dangers that this underpaid group face in their daily task and have been active in developing more intensive and safe training guidelines to provide the officers with an improved “baseline” fitness that provides for better reactions during high stress missions. At a recent statewide SWAT meeting, the Lake Charles Police Department was one of 6 teams recognized as having active medical support during active missions and even fewer had medical support during training. I am proud to say they placed first in the physical fitness and shooting competition that was a grueling 3 hours course. They place 1^st in 4 categories and top 5 in 2 others, thanks to the fitness regiment that has been implemented.

The strength’s that I bring to this team is my medical background and soon, a DNP. This allows me to not only provide excellent medical support but to recognize problems in training and active missions and help to develop solutions to these situations. I also serve the entire community as I help to protect and serve those who are protecting and serving. A weakness is that because this is not my first job or primary employment, I cannot guarantee that I can be available 100% of the time, but thus far, it has been about 90% of the time and 100% on training days. I am able to use personal time from work to take off to help the SRT. I believe that my involvement with the team will continue in the future and my role and responsibilities will continue to grow. I have been contacted by the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office EMS director and asked to train with their team as well. This is an honor but a commitment to two teams may not be possible…at least until after May!

Service Learning #2

This semester was a continuation in the service learning area that I started last semester. I have been working with the United Way as a part of the allocations committee. There were several allocation committee groups and each group’s responsibilities included review and recommendation for several organizations from the Southwest Louisiana area. For my allocation group there were several “worthy” organizations. Some of these included the 2^nd Harvest, Iberia Parish Medical, Calcasieu Parish Parkinson’s Alliance, and a few others. The interesting thing about my group’s assignment is that all of these groups were “new” to the United Way. This meant that none of the organizations we reviewed had ever received United Way funding in the past, whereas all of the other organizations reviewed by other groups had received funding in previous years.

The early part of the semester concluded the season for the United Way with the allocation committees reviewing each site followed by the gathering of all committees and members to make a final decision on distribution of the funds. Last year there were collections of 2.4 million dollars with allocations to over 30 organizations in the Southwest Louisiana area. The most difficult task is to determine which organizations will receive what monetary amounts and often times there is consideration of what was received during the prior year. Most organizations experience a budget increase from year to year so organizations typically request an increase for this year’s United Way budget allocation. The allocation committee has to closely examine new organizations and their request as well as old organizations and their requests and previous allocations. This year, the collections were almost identical in numbers with 8 new organizations requesting funding. This presented a challenge as the total amount of funds available for this year was 2.4 million dollars and the total requests for funding exceeded 2.8 million dollars. It was ultimately decided to give each organization the same amount allocated as last year and new organizations would be given a small amount divided between them. While this is not optimal, it is felt by the committee to be the most appropriate way to distribute funds given the financial constraints.

In order to answer the question “what was the worst part of this semester,” I reflected on the allocations process and the significant amount of time spent listening to the presentations of each organization. The requests for funding from new organizations ranged from $1800 to $75000. It is difficult to realize how many organizations serve the underserved of Southwest Louisiana. They all seemed to have legitimate needs that would change lives because of the services or assistance each organization offered to these groups of people. The worst part of this semester is the thought that the money simply isn’t available for every need and every organization. Knowing that someone is lacking in his or her ability to serve is difficult to process and rationalize. This also relates to the most difficult part of the semester. To make a determination of who “needs” the funding more between two legitimate groups is difficult. Sifting through the facts and budgets and getting down to the individuals (poor, homeless, disabled, etc.) who need these groups can be heart wrenching. It makes it easy to have a great appreciation for the health, food, clothing, and shelter that I have.

Today was the kickoff breakfast of the new United Way campaign. It was set against a back drop of people buzzing with excitement. It started at 7:30 this morning and was deemed a “celebration” by the master of ceremonies. The local organizations that benefitted from the “success” of last year’s campaign were recounted and celebrated. Local dignitaries from Senators, City Councilmen, and local Mayors from around the area joined the celebration. There was even a local high school marching band. It truly had the feel of the first football game of the season! There was great anticipation as the “pace setters” (early campaigns among local businesses) have already collected over $500,000 toward next year’s campaign. This really set the tone and inspired those involved to get started in another successful year. While being a part of the success of last year’s campaign was rewarding, the “kickoff breakfast” was easily the best thing about this semester.

I learned so much about the things and people in my hometown through this event. I realized just how many “underserved” there are in Southwest Louisiana and the Lake Charles area. I also learned first-hand how different organizations contribute to meeting the needs of these individuals. More impressively, I learned how giving and how big the heart of my community is and it made me proud to see “Jesus” reflected in these groups of great people! The leadership is awe inspiring. I also learned that the best way for me to make a difference in my community and the underserved is to be involved! Whether it is in serving breakfast to the homeless at Abraham’s Tent, collecting dry goods for the Calcasieu Women’s Shelter, or actively participating in the United Way allocation committee, participation is needed and inspiring to others! On a professional level, I know that I can lead or be a voice my office’s campaign, volunteer at the Calcasieu Community Clinic, or even be a voice for the medically underserved in determining finance allocations.

I look forward to this year’s campaign and being a part of the campaign allocation committee in the spring of 2012. I hope to inspire those around me to be active and participate in the United Way or one of the dozens of organizations that need volunteers to be successful and change my community. I also look forward to bringing wisdom and good judgment to the process of allocating funds. Finally, I hope to successfully expand my role as a United Way volunteer when I can chair or vice-chair one of the committees. It is here that I foresee many of the qualities of leadership and expertise that are learned in the DNP process being used.

Midterm Service Learning Blog

Review in detail your service learning site?

• Where are you serving?
• I completed my service-learning project at the United Way of Lake Charles, LA (SWLA – Southwest Louisiana). 
• What does the agency do?
• The United Way of SWLA is about improving the quality of life in our community one citizen, one family and one neighborhood at a time.  They understand that their role is an important one, but it also requires coordination with other organizations in Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron and Jeff Davis Parishes. The United Way’s vision is to meet the educational, financial and health needs of our community.  In short, their goal is to address human needs. 
• Who are the clients and what needs are served?                  
• At an individual level, the United Way of SWLA specifically serves a wide variety of individuals. These persons include homeless men and women around the 5 parish area, individuals with mental retardation and other mental handicaps, boy and girl scouts, autistic persons, individuals with Parkinson’s disease, individuals who are hungry and may not have adequate access to meals, the sick and underinsured without primary care, and many more individuals. These individuals are reached through many different organizations through monetary support from the United Way of SWLA.
• What is the agency funding support?
• The United Way of SWLA supports nearly 50 different organizations that support the individuals listed above. This is accomplished through individual and corporate donations. These are collected throughout the year and more specifically through a drive for the collection of funds that occurs in the fall of each year. Nearly 2.4 million dollars has been collected for distribution in 2011. The organizations including Boy Scouts of America, Girl Scouts of America, Calcasieu Association of Retarded Citizens, Parkinson’s Support for SWLA, Abraham’s Tent Food Bank, Acadiana Medical Provision, Calcasieu Medical Society’s Health Services, 2^nd Harvest Food Bank, and many more groups.

What roles do DNPs play in promoting health and wellness in underserved populations?

I feel that this question could or is best answered in two thoughts. First I think the DNP nurse can promote health in this group with a general “willingness” to see and take care of these patients. It is often that the underserved may included underinsured and as a DNP we can volunteer our time in medical clinics or in serving on boards for medical clinics that take care of these patients. Secondly and with regard to the other underserved populations such as children or the elderly we must be educators and communicators. The DNP can see these patients and take time to educate them and their families about their health care and status. DNP’s can also provide comfort through communication in difficult times and celebrate with them in better times.

It is with the passion that drove us to become a nurse that the DNP must combine their “higher education”, advanced practice role, and “care giver” responsibility to provide for the underserved persons that are the majority of the US at present.

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• How do you perceive your individual role in this?
• As noted by Zaccagnini and White (2011), “as nursing moves practice decisions from those based on tradition to those based on empirical evidence, the advanced practice nurse is in the best position to effect and assess change within the clinical setting.” I believe this will best be accomplished through education. My project is a small example of how I will proceed and practice as a DNP. Through a cooperative between the physicians and staff in developing standardized modalities of education and information given to each patient, I as a DNP, will attempt to standardize education for all patients. It will be important to educate the ancillary staff of the importance of thorough patient education. Literature related to anxiety reduction has shown that patients benefit from interventions aimed at providing information about diagnostic therapeutic treatment (Ruffinengo, Versino and Renga, 2009. Through these “improved” educational modalities patients will gain an improved understanding of their procedure and perioperative expectations. This will also lead to a decrease in patient anxiety and possible decrease in pain levels. Through the reduction in pain and anxiety, the ultimate goal is for a faster return to full activity for the patients and an increase in overall patient satisfaction with their providers.
• Of course this is a small example, but ultimately I see my role as one of an educator but also as a leader in my community. Through continued participation in service-learning projects and raising the bar for nursing care, those around me in the nursing profession will be challenged to further their education and become involved in similar projects. This “ripple effect” will continue long after a specific project or event has occurred, and as a DNP I can feel proud that the influences of those who have preceded and taught me have been carried on at an impact level in my community.

Ruffinengo, C., Versino, E., & Renga, G. (2009). Effectiveness of an informative video on reducing anxiety levels in patients undergoing elective coronarography: An RCT. European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing : Journal of the Working Group on Cardiovascular Nursing of the European Society of Cardiology, 8(1), 57-61. doi:10.1016/j.ejcnurse.2008.04.002

Zaccagnini, M. E.., & White, K. W. (2011). The Doctor of Nursing Practice Essentials: A New Model for Advanced Practice. (1st ed.). Sudbury,MA: Jones & Barlett Publishers, LLC.

Service Learning Reflection

Are people you came in contact with through this experience having some needs met through the community activities? 
In my service learning project, I worked with the United Way's local office as part of the allocations committee. We reviewed several "in need" sites for the possibility of distributing a part of the local United Way's funds. After reviewing the sites the board decided on several areas in which could be or would be best helped by the funding. These sites will receive a portion of the funds collected by the local United Way for the next year. The process will repeat itself. Several of the organizations/sites are in need of continual contributions from the United Way and have received funds for several years. Most of the sites are non-profit organizations which help "needy" populations. This could include under-insured persons, economically disadvantaged, disabled, and many other vulnerable populations. The help provided through this project is very evident at a local level and makes the process very rewarding!

Are community activities like these necessary and/or sufficient to fulfill these community and individual needs? It seems that some of the organizations depend on the United Way and other charitable organizations/donations to continue to operate. Because the United Way's financial budget is not unlimited, it is necessary to portion the funds delivered based on need. Ultimately not all the financial needs are met but it is a huge help and the organizations are very appreciative of the help delivered.

Do you see other means to do so?
There are other organizations that can help and private sector donations that can help the sites with funding. It is almost impossible to meet every need and even with help, some of the sites continue to struggle with their budget. It is unlikely that one organization can help with all of the needs that are in the Lake Charles area, but the combination of charitable donations and the United Way can certainly help serve these organizations and ultimately the underserved local population that they reach.

What was the best/worst/most challenging thing that happened this semester? 
The best thing about my service learning objective was the relationships formed through this experience. It has been a huge reward to more closely see the United Way's work and the local groups that are served through this process. The worst thing is to realize the depth of needs that continue to go unmet despite the efforts of the United Way and many other charitable groups and individuals. The ongoing challenge is to remain involved and gain perspective in the needs of the many local organizations and people that utilize the services. It is sometimes easy to put the need of others aside as my focus is on my own needs (wants). It is sobering to reflect on those lives that are around me in my community. They do not have less of a need just because I am not focused on them at any given moment!
 
What have you learned about yourself?
I believe we should live a life in service to others, the challenge for me is to continually realize and strive to meet this goal of service in my everyday life. To become less self-centered and more obligated to those around me is always a struggle. It is interesting to see the growth that occurs in the individuals around me and in myself as the process continues!

What are your future service learning plans?
I plan to remain active in the United Way's allocations process. I have been asked to serve as a co-chair of a committee next spring as well. Assuming I have the necessary time to devote to the project, I will remain active and gladly take on the responsibility. I also will remain active in several other projects that are not listed as "service learning". "The law is fulfilled by one commandment -love your neighbor as you love yourself". Galations 5:14

Midterm Service Learning Reflections

How would you describe in detail your service-learning site?

I will be completing my service-learning project with the United Way of Lake Charles, LA. United Way of SWLA is about improving the quality of life in our community one citizen, one family and one neighborhood at a time.  They understand that their role is an important one, but it also requires coordination with other organizations in Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron and Jeff Davis Parishes.  The United Way’s vision is to meet the educational, financial and health needs of our community.  In short, their goal is to address human needs. 

Where are you serving?

Agencies that are located in the 5 parish area; Calcasieu, Cameron, Beauregard, Allen, Jeff Davis

What does the agency do?

The United Way funds agencies to accomplish/meet/address the most important and critical needs in the community. Hunger, shelter, food clothing, etc.

Who are the clients and what needs are served?

Clients consist of anyone in need of food, shelter, counseling, education, employment for the developmentally challenged, elderly care/education, and medical care for the working uninsured.

What is the agency funding support?

The United Way’s agency support is directly and totally from the community.  All donations are given through employee rallies and/or corporate contributions.

What is it about the community partner that calls you to work with them?

Kimberly Dixon is Director of Allocation and Review with United Way and attends the same church as I do.  She approached me because of the work I do and my involvement and leadership in the community and our church to contribute and be a voice with United Way. Kimberly is active in our church as a leader and is involved in other community activities. Kimberly is an inspiration for those who may be able to give and participate in community events for the underprivileged.

Why are you engaged with this agency?

The United Way supports a vast array of medical related agencies and I feel I could contribute my expertise in those areas.

What is your passion here?

              I also have a heart for the less fortunate and needy. This opportunity to “have a voice” in the distribution of United Way funding is an exciting responsibility as well.

What are you currently doing with this organization and how do you see it evolving as you sustain your commitment with them?

Since volunteering for the position with the United Way, I have been asked to serve as the vice chair of the United Way’s Allocation and Review process. This panel is directly related to the health care needs of the underprivileged in our community.

What is your role in this service learning experience?

I am going to be vice chair of one of the United Way’s panels for Allocation and Review. 

What hours did you spend at the site and what activities were performed?

            I will spend approximately 15-20 hours of committee and review time. I will also be responsible to a team that will visit assigned agencies and review financial strength and sound, programs offered, assess the needs of the organization, and effectiveness.

What are the opportunities there?

This will allow for agencies that offer programs that are found to be successful and useful the opportunity for funding. It will also allow for programs that are struggling to have an offer for financial assistance from the United Way. Finally, it will allow for the discontinuing of funding for programs without a need or signs of successful management from the funding process. This will allow for the more fruitful agencies to maintain their functions without service disruptions. All of this is subject to careful reviewing and the weighing of options.

What can you see yourself doing more long-term?

This community service organization is an ongoing service provider. The opportunity to be engaged and involved with other activities and committees exists. It is also a possibility to become the chair of the allocation or another committee. Because of the United Way’s reach in the five parish area, the potential for long-term involvement is ongoing and nearly without limits.