The model depicts the interactive process of reciprocal benefit from university-community partnerships. The department of nursing expands upon its core values: education, dignity, and community by identifying underserved populations and collaborating with them to enhance mutual strengths. Students identify populations who have fallen through the health and welfare safety net. Working closely with faculty and community mentors, they study existing resources, assess barriers, and design alternatives incorporating public, private, and community sources. Projects begin with a need perceived by a community and students deliver concrete, specific responses. Health care and case management are provided in homeless shelters, migrant housing developments, senior citizen centers, settlement houses, and child care facilities. Undergraduate and graduate students work together to expand the range of services, collect outcome data, and seek funding to develop and evolve the network. They follow clients beyond settings and specialties to provide care across gaps in categorical delivery systems. They provide critical linkages between health care, social services, child welfare, and community services. Students gain experience in comprehensive case management, health policy, multiculturalism, epidemiology, legal/ethical issues, research, public health, and primary care. Faculty maintain clinical practice and participate in interagency research studies. Communities create sustainable support for their most vulnerable members, obtain consultation, and develop a pool of health care workers who are committed to their future.
Learning Objectives: Identify opportunities for university-community partnerships in their own locales. Describe advocacy functions required when working with vulnerable populations
Keywords: Vulnerable Populations, Community-Based Partnership
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.