Students to take health fair out to the community Oct. 2

14 years ago

Students to take health fair

out to the community Oct. 2

    PRESQUE ISLE – Northern Maine Community College nursing students are taking their annual health fair out to the community this fall and plan to present the event in conjunction with the annual Fall and Winter Expo to be held Oct. 2-3 at The Forum in Presque Isle.
    Accordingly, the 26 students enrolled in the third semester of the associate degree nursing program are preparing educational displays Saturday, Oct. 2 from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. 

    Nine different health education topics are being prepared by the students for the event, which include beating the winter blues, community acquired MRSA, hypothermia and frostbite prevention, Vitamin D deficiency, hunting safety, and stress management and coping strategies. There will also be information on the benefits of activity, winter sports safety, and fall and winter driving safety.
    The health fair was added to the nursing curriculum to provide the senior students with an opportunity to plan and present a structured teaching project in a public health format. According to members of the nursing faculty, the opportunity to partner with the Fall and Winter Expo, coordinated by the NMCC Foundation, is ideal to meeting that objective.
    “We are excited about the opportunity for our students to reach a variety of people from the community with health information related to seasonal activities. There will be something of interest in the displays for people of all ages,” said Eileen McDougal, nursing instructor and one of the lead coordinators of the health fair.
    Topics were selected collaboratively by NMCC nursing faculty members and the students with a concentration on issues related to the fall and winter seasons. Once a comprehensive list was developed, students signed up to work on specific projects according to their interest, with three or four students working in each area. Following the topic selection, each team was responsible for developing objectives and an outline of the information they plan to present. They then accessed the resources necessary to present their topic.
    Each student-researched topic will be presented at an individual booth staffed by the group working on the specific project.
    The 26 students participating in the health fair include 22 who are physically taking courses on the Presque Isle campus and four second-year students enrolled in NMCC’s nursing program who are taking classes at the NMCC St. John Valley Center at Madawaska High School.
    In addition to being informative to the public, the Health Fair is a bit competitive for the participating second-year nursing students. For the third consecutive year, The Aroostook Medical Center will provide a $400 scholarship for the display determined to be “best in show,” as judged by a panel of TAMC managers.
    The NMCC Health Fair follows the first semester when students learn the concepts of teaching/learning in the public health context and the second semester when students are required to present a clinically-based topic to their peers. In their final semester, students participate in the Fort Fairfield Middle School health fair.
    The nursing students will be joined in the health fair by nine second-year medical assisting students, who will also present information on seasonal topics. These exhibits will cover topics including Seasonal Affective Disorder, childhood obesity, cardiac safety in snow removal, and snowmobile safety.
    Members of the public are invited and encouraged to attend the NMCC Health Fair Saturday, Oct. 2 from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. during the annual Fall and Winter Expo. The exhibits will also be displayed at the Expo Sunday, Oct. 3 from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. For more information on the event, contact the NMCC Foundation at 760-1188.