We're Back!!!

We arrived back in Philadelphia safe and sound yesterday late yesterday afternoon. Although our adventures in Pearlington are over, what we did there and what we gained in return will forever stay in our hearts and minds. The consensus? We will never forget. Never.

The health fair was a major success. We had over 100 families register for the fair and a steady stream of residents came through during the entire 4 hours. Us nurses were amazed at the lines that gathered around our health screening and we talked and laughed ourselves hoarse.

Thank you for your partnership with us in this endeavor and for the encouraging comments we've received over the past 10 days. We couldn't have done it without you. Come find us and we'll entertain you with our stories! :)



Setting up for the fair bright and early













Our dental students and their faculty arrived late the night before and were ready to go












Many of the residents we'd visited during the week came out
















Health screenings













Excellent nursing teaching going on here













They taught us the Cupid Shuffle













And we taught them Soulja Boy













Goodbye Pearlington, MS!

We're Famous (again)!

We are now featured on page A11 (we have the entire page!) of the Sun Herald, including some pictures of us.
Here is the link:
http://www.sunherald.com/201/story/295342.html
Be sure to click on "Penn in the Gulf" under the caption of the photo to see more pictures!
Off to the health fair now! The day has finally come!!!!
-Sofia

Week's End

Well, it is Friday - and we have now been here for 9 days. While we are having an amazing learning experience, we are also having a wonderful time. I have to say, I am so pleased to get to know the 7 nursing students who have given up their time to do this extraordinary work - Phoebe, Alexis, Stephanie, Annie, Sophia, Gina, and Danielle. They are energetic, creative, and articulate. They share fascinating stories about their past life experiences that have brought them to this point in their life. Everything they have done in their past has helped them prepare for their own individual learning experiences at Pearlington.

These young women will be our future nursing leaders and we should all be very confident that they will carry on the PENN tradition and be successful in whatever they choose to do in their future. It has truly been an honor for me to work with them. I think the experience that they have had here in Pearlington will be with them forever and will impact their future practice in nursing.

On another note, Julie has been fabulous to work with. She has challenged the students and have helped them grow both personally and professionally as they deal with families in Pearlington who continue to work through their own tragic situations. Not only has she helped the students, but she has helped me as well, learning about health policy and keeping me updated on the election/politics. I thank Julie for her commitment to this project and know that with her enthusiasm, our work here will become something that will mark PENN nursing as instrumental in the recovery effort in Pearlington, MS and Hancock county.

Tomorrow is the Health Fair. I am excited to be ending the trip on a happy note. (We think it will be a happy note.) We have invited so many people to attend and are looking forward to "revisiting" or hosting our new friends in Pearlington. While we heard some very fascinating stories of survival and recovery, we are looking forward to providing the residents with some objective interventions that may improve their lives. This is the first health fair that has come to the people of Pearlington - rather than them having to travel to a health fair that is 30 miles away with no transportation to get there. The students are asking "I wonder if Mr. X will come - he said he would." and are eager to see the people they have met. Knowing they will be at the Health Fair provides the opportunity of some type of "closure" to know that we helped the residents with some type of intervention (BP, glucose, cholesterol, etc.).

OK...my new buddy from Lake Forest wants to use the computer for the last 12 minutes of time.......that is great.....new friends - they are all amazing.

God bless,

Norma

Getting ready for the big Health Fair!

Hi y'all:

We are busy busy busy getting ready for our Health Fair. After staying up late last night making our posters/signs for the fair (and taking a "study break" for an ice cream run in Waveland, about 10 miles away), we scurried up and down the coast picking up educational materials from American Heart, American Cancer, and American Lung Associations. Everyone was so generous and gave us lots of great stuff. We then picked up and carted back snacks for the event from a wonderful donor: 30 huge boxes boxes of bags of chips, 15 pallets of spring water, 5 crates each of granola bars and Oreos. And that's just the snacks! We just finished unloading two vans worth of bar-b-queing food for the event: hot dogs, burgers, chili fixings, and beaucoup paper products. We spent the day prepping materials that we will need for patient teaching and referral. Our excellent home visits and case-finding all week have sensitized us to the health needs of the community and shaping what we plan to do tomorrow. The publicity has been fantastic, and we are expecting a great turnout. Thankfully the weather is cooperating -- I never would have expected the flooded grounds from yesterday would have dried out, but a high pressure center has moved in voila! Dry ground! I saved one clean shirt for tomorrow -- my Red Cross shirt (now isn't that appropriate!). It's amazing how clean one can feel just brushing and flossing one's teeth (my dentist should read this blog!). Even a new port-o-potty is transformational. Who would have thought showering in sulfur-leaded water could feel refreshing, but indeed it does.

Looks like the staff from Hancock Medical Center will not be coming by today (not here yet, so doesn't look good) to drop off all of our equipment and supplies for the Fair, which means tomorrow morning will be a little hectic figuring out what we have and how we will organize ourselves. Hey, no biggie. After a managing a major hurricane, we can easily "deal" with anything.

I'll write tomorrow and let you know how things go. Dean Gelles from SP2 arrived last nighyt, toured today, and is staying in our barracks with us tonight. We have allocated the front of the barracks at "man town" so he will need to stake out a spot there. Yep, co-ed barracks.

See y'all soon!

Julie

we're famous!

Not only were we on the 10pm news last night, but now we are in the Picayune Item, a local newspaper.
Here is the link:
http://www.picayuneitem.com/local/local_story_011112456.html
My memory card is now working on the computer, so I'll post some of my pictures from the trip in a bit.
-Sofia

We made the local news! Wow!

Hello!
Congressman Taylor visited yesterday. (We made the local news!) He shared his Katrina story, and he explained that he lost his home in the storm. He spoke about the first responders heroic efforts to save Mississippi residents and provide suffering residents with food, water, and basic medical care. These stories illustrate true heroism and the amazing resiliency of the human spirit! The Congressman explained that he is currently fighting for comprehensive fire, flood, and wind insurance coverage. He encouraged everyone to write to their state senators and demand fair insurance reimbursement. (Background: So many Pearlington residents’ insurance claims were denied because private insurance companies joined together and decided to blame all Katrina damage on food damage not hurricane wind damage. Then, private insurance companies escaped their obligation to fairly reimburse families. Private insurance companies do not provide flood coverage, so Katrina victims were suffering two extreme traumas – loosing their homes and being denied private insurance coverage.) The Congressman stated that affordable, comprehensive insurance coverage is essential for successfully rebuilding Mississippi. The nursing and SP2 students are constantly finding that we cannot significantly improve self care behaviors without first addressing resident basic need for shelter. Comprehensive psychosocial nursing care includes assessing the patients’ environments and then collaborating to meet their needs. Many residents are reporting that housing is the most urgent need among Pearlington residents. I now have a much better understanding of the relationship between housing and physical and mental health.
Have a happy day!
Alexis

Health fair, one day away!

These past few days have been absolutely unforgettable! They have been jam packed with resident interviews, trips to SONIC, bourbon street in New Orleans, tent preparations and rescue, and most importantly a visit from Congressman Gene Taylor of Mississippi and publicizing and preparing for our health fair!
During our door to door interviews with my SP2 partner, I have continued to encounter amazing people with amazing stories. We have been able to identify many health needs of the community throughout our case finding. It is such a rewarding feeling to be down here and helping such an underserved population. Although health disparities and culturally competent care are constantly reinforced in our Penn nursing curriculum, it is wonderful to be able to incorporate all of this knowledge into clinical practice! I spoken to a retired engineer who describe all of the technicalities of the waves and flooding of hurricane Katrina. Although most of this information was way over my nursing focused brain, it was very interesting to hear his insights and this conversation opened the door to his Katrina story. We were able to assess his stress level and make suggestions to improve his mental health. We also spoke to the husband of one of the local school teachers. His perspective on the devastation of Katrina was very different than other findings. He stated that his wife had major loss and grief related to the loss of the local school. Not only did the residents lose their home and belongings, but many lost another part of their lives, their sense of community. Many residents shared frustrations about the lack of a local school for their children. Because of damages suffered by the local school (which is actually now the Pearlington Recovery center where we are staying), the school was not rebuilt and local children were sent to a school in another town, which is about 45 minutes away! Can you imagine being a 6 year old kindergarten student and waking up at 6 am to catch the bus and get to school on time?
After our hard days of work, we were rewarded by a trip to SONIC (it really does exist!) and a tour of New Orleans and a fun night on Bourbon street.
We also have committed a lot of time and effort into our wonderful health fair tent. I was actually assigned the task of power washing some of the dirt off of the inside of the tent. It was quite the experience! Also, after a tornado watch and very heavy thunderstorms and downpours, we had a huge rescue effort to save the tent! Water accumulated on top of the tent and using brooms, rakes, mops, and anything else we could find we removed water and pressure from the tent and it survived the storm!
Yesterday, Congressman Gene Taylor visited the Pearlington Recovery Center and shared his personal story about losing his home in the Hurricane. This was a very moving experience. He narrated about his first return to survey the damage of his house; he had to travel by boat and floated along to find that his entire street had been destroyed. He also spoke of local organizations and government involvement in Katrina relief. We also talked to newspaper and television reports and made the 10 pm news and a story in the local newspaper today!
And tomorrow is our health fair! Today, all of the nursing students worked on research and education materials to provide information to the participants of the health fair. We have 15 different local organizations who will be attending the health fair. The nursing school plans to set up a health screening booth and screen for hypertension, diabetes and cholesterol. We also have ready information about healthy diets, diabetes and blood sugar management, stress relief, sleep, smoking cessation and much more! All of the SP2 students plan to educate and screen residents' mental health and offer suggestions to relieve stress, how to manage a healthy diet and information about local mental health resources. The engineers and geology boys will educate about water purification and education about safe water in the area. The dental school will also perform health screenings to local residents. We hope for a wonderful turnout and to meet the expectations of our residents! We are confident that it will be a success!
Thanks for reading and all of your support, Gina