Gateway Center helps student nurses get hands-on experience
Pulse editor
Sunday, November 16, 2008
At first glance, nursing students and the homeless might not seem to have much in common. But a unique partnership between Emory University’s Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing and the Gateway Center in downtown Atlanta has brought them together in a mutually beneficial way — students get service-learning opportunities and the homeless get medical services.
The Gateway Center opened in 2005 as the keystone of the Regional Commission on Homelessness. The center is more than a homeless shelter; it functions as a collaborative model to partner with other agencies and service organizations to comprehensively address the needs of the homeless.
Photos by BARRY WILLIAMS / Special
Emory University nursing instructor Monica Donohue (middle) and senior nursing student Yuna Lee discuss foot care with Vivian Robinson (left), a client at the Gateway Center. The Gateway Center treats homeless people with acute or chronic illnesses.
‘We’re giving our clients more opportunities to become healthier and be healed, and we see transformation happening in our students that is going to change how they practice nursing.’ - Monica Donahue, Emory nursing instructor, director of Emory/Gateway project.
Ross Zimmer, a senior nursing student at Emory University, examines Ray Charleston’s feet at the Gateway Center in downtown Atlanta.
“It was such a large endeavor and there was so much need. Members of Emory’s nursing faculty saw this as a wonderful opportunity to serve the community and expand the knowledge and experience of our students,” said Monica Donohue, MN, RN, nursing instructor and director of the Emory/Gateway project.
The nursing school has been involved with Gateway since the beginning. Ann Connor, MSN, APRN-BC, FNP, teaches community health and has taken students to Gateway’s 30-bed unit to treat homeless patients with acute or chronic illnesses. Connor and another Emory faculty member, Jordan Bell Simcox, have set up a resource center at Gateway to help clients receive services such as eye care, dentistry, HIV tests and gynecological exams.
On July 1, 2007, a three-year $370,000 grant from the federal Health Resources and Service Administration’s Division of Nursing allowed the partnership to expand. The grant helps fund faculty projects, supplies and continuing education.
“This semester, we have 18 service-learning groups at Gateway,” Donohue said.
Students learn about the needs of the homeless population, work with their instructor to develop a project that benefits homeless clients and then reflect on the impact of the project.
Teenager Egan Marie Connor Short produced a 19-minute film about the Gateway Center that featured her mother, Ann. The film focuses on the causes of homelessness and the medical issues that go with it.
“This is no easy class for nursing students,” Connor said in the film. “We try to leave our baggage at the door.”
In the film, Connor asked a homeless man what nursing students needed to know before they come to the Gateway Center.
“You can’t look down on a person who is down. You have to treat them the way you would want to be treated,” he said.
Many factors can contribute to homelessness including substance abuse, mental illness, domestic violence and bankruptcy caused by skyrocketing medical costs.
“There is a lot of pain, but homeless people have a lot of strengths, too,” Connor said. “They know how to cope and are adaptable and resourceful.”
Student involvement
Students in Emory’s nurse-practitioner program are delivering health workshops with clients on the recovery floor at Gateway.
Chosen by research and the clients themselves, the topics include HIV/AIDS, diabetes, hepatitis C and substance addictions.
“Our nurse-practitioner students are already practicing nurses and bring a wealth of expertise to address these topics,” Donohue said. “They also bring food [funded by Emory’s Office of Community Partnerships] and share lunch with their clients.”
Both students and clients enjoy gathering around the table to eat and talk.
“It breaks down barriers, and I get to watch the magic happening,” Donohue said.
She sees prejudices torn down on both sides.
“Students remark on how smart and polite their clients are,” she said. “As they hear what contributed to someone’s homelessness, they realize that homeless people are people first. They have similar aspirations and challenges [as themselves], just different life circumstances.”
Donohue says that clients look forward to talking to students.
“They no longer see Emory students as privileged, but as people who care,” she said.
Shannon Lambeth, RN, works in the cardiovascular intensive care unit at Emory University Hospital. A student in Emory’s acute care nurse-practitioner program, she met with 35 men from Gateway to talk about depression.
“I talked about symptoms and treatments and how depression manifested itself in men. It was a very rich discussion,” Lambeth said. “Their knowledge of the topic was impressive and they asked some great questions about medications and how substance abuse and depression go hand-in-hand.”
Lambeth had never heard of the Gateway Center but discovered that the residents were friendly and open to discussion.
“Talking to them is just like talking to anyone else, but I have a new found respect for what they go through,” she said. “It’s admirable for them to seek out a place like Gateway and tackle substance abuse. That takes a lot of courage.”
Helping hands
Among the services that Emory faculty and students have provided include health fairs and screenings for high blood pressure, diabetes and other diseases.
Pediatric nurse practitioner and midwifery students run an after-school program for mothers and children in which students meet with mothers to talk about health prevention and emotional issues, and the children participate in physical activities and learn about healthy eating.
Emory nursing professors teach a faith-based program on healing for recovering addicts called “Strengthening Your Spiritual Self.”
“We give clients an opportunity to talk about their faith, to ask how they would use it to become healthier,” Donohue said.
Last year, 134 nursing students and 13 faculty members served 1,000 Gateway clients, and Donohue hopes to sustain that involvement. She believes the program is achieving real results and is a good model for others.
“We’re giving our clients more opportunities to become healthier and be healed, and we see transformation happening in our students that is going to change how they practice nursing,” she said.