Two students from the Department of Allied Health Sciences traveled to Robeson County, North Carolina, for an Interprofessional Education (IPE) trip.
Clinical Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling students Deepti Kumra and Manqing He joined 17 other UNC-Chapel Hill students on a service-learning trip to Robeson County to help with Hurricane Matthew relief during spring break 2017.
The program is a part of an Interprofessional Education endeavor which focuses on bringing different professions together to work for the same cause. Students from the Gillings School of Global Public Health, the School of Nursing and the UNC School of Medicine Department of Allied Health Sciences joined forces to work in Robeson County.
Students joined with local community health agencies to provide health screenings for uncontrolled blood sugar and blood pressure as well as screening for depression. Many people received immediate care with same-day appointments at community health centers. Students also scheduled mammograms and exams for women with local medical offices. People were also provided with various health and counseling resources in the area.
In all, students screened more than 120 community members during the trip. Some students plan to return in a few months on weekends to reach more people who were not available during the workweek.
The program was made available through the APPLES Service-Learning course at UNC-CH, an initiative from the Carolina Center for Public Service.