On a recent Wednesday, January 16, all 17 of the UCI Sue and Bill Gross School of Nursing MEPN class of 2020 spent their day volunteering with the Illumination Foundation at a pop-up shelter in Anaheim. The students worked one-on-one with clients, completing a needs assessment survey together. The survey covered common needs of homeless individuals, including the need for housing, government IDs, access to healthcare, and access to mental health resources. “As future nurses, we learned a lot about the needs of the homeless population and how to develop relationships with our patients through conversation,” says Lorren Yniguez, first-year MEPN student. The students also donated 75 hygiene kits that included snacks, socks, water, and hygiene products.
During their volunteer day, the students met with Dr. Bhalla, the Executive Vice President of Programs at Illumination Foundation. They discussed with Dr. Bhalla the unique challenges that homeless populations face, and why community health nursing was such an important part of improving the lives of homeless individuals, and by extension, the health of the community as a whole. “We learned a lot about community and public health nursing, the lack of healthcare many of our citizens have, and what impact that has on our healthcare system, emergency departments in particular,” says Ms. Yniguez. “We also learned about the coupling of medical health and mental health and how we tackle treating both conditions. Our graduate studies focus on community and population health, so experiencing this first hand was somewhat of an eye-opening experience to see how many people in our own communities need healthcare services and someone who can help them figure out where to start.” Ms. Yniguez continues, “Personally, my biggest takeaway was learning that we need to approach healthcare by first and foremost caring for the person, as a whole and unique individual, because in doing so, it opens many doors to addressing their physical, mental and emotional health, as well.”
The MEPN class of 2020 would like to thank Dean Nyamathi, Dr. Pooja Bhalla, the Illumination Foundation and Amelia Iacobelli for making the volunteer day possible. They would also like to thank the residents of the shelter for allowing the MEPN students to be a part of their journey.
Shout out to the MEPN students who volunteered: Camila Aguilar, Athena Belluomini, Francesca Benfanti, Caroline Brenes, Kristyn Casalino, Julie Chae, Emily Enos, Claire Gilpin, Melyssa Hernandez, Roxanne Hernandez, Gabriela Iribarne, Sarah Kakwani, Huy Nguyen, Jenny Phan, Michelle Reynoso, Lorren Yniguez, and Michelle Zittlau- Johnson.
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