Nursing students can participate locally in the Veterans Court and at health clinics, and travel regionally in service-learning experiences with Remote Area Medical in Appalachia or at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota that meet course requirements.
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Learn more about the program and the experiential learning opportunities!
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As a part of their education, senior nursing students become actively involved, under the guidance of faculty, in a variety of community projects. Examples of recent community projects include:
- Obtaining food pantry donations for a local homeless shelter in Clark County
- Supporting a county health department to provide health assessments and education on health promotion to Amish school students in Washington County
- Working with the Floyd County Center for Women and Children
- Educating pregnant residents at the Kentucky Correctional Institute for Women
- Providing support during annual flu immunizations in Harrison County
Veterans Court
The IU Southeast School of Nursing partners with the Veterans Court of Southern Indiana to provide nursing students with a clinical experiential learning opportunity within the correctional system and military community. The partnership began in 2019 with the goal of enabling IU Southeast nursing students to learn about the role of evidence-based treatment approaches in the justice system for veterans with mental health and substance use disorders.
Remote Area Medical in Appalachia
Remote Area Medical is a nonprofit organization that facilitates free “pop-up” medical, dental, and vision clinics in underserved areas, with an emphasis on Appalachia. All services provided are free to participants, and all providers are volunteers. Previous service-learning trips with Remote Area Medical in Appalachia have included travel to clinic sites in Charleston, West Virginia; Gray, Tennessee; and Grundy, Virginia. Nursing students gain real-world experience providing care to the uninsured/underinsured population of Appalachia while working as a part of an interdisciplinary team. Student roles include triaging; assisting in the medical, dental, and vision areas; giving vaccines; and other duties as needed.
Pine Ridge Reservation
Every summer, senior students have the opportunity to participate in a cultural-immersion service-learning experience at the Oglala Lakota of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota as part of a course in community clinical nursing. Nursing students can learn about the Lakota culture, improve their transcultural communication skills, and develop an awareness of their role in working toward health equity for all, while offering health promotion to this underserved population.
Nursing student participants are not bystanders on the reservation; instead, they actively participate in community activities and engage tribal members. Students take part in the Oglala Lakota Nation Wacipi (Pow Wow) and the Oglala Lakota Nation Indian Relays. This trip is truly a transformative experience for the students. The students are able to demonstrate their commitment and express the revolutionary nature of their experience through their blog posts and final photography assignment. In 2017 and 2018, the IU Women's Philanthropy Leadership Council provided grant funding for the student group’s travel and health promotion supplies.
