April 16, 2007 — Some of the best and brightest from the University of the Virgin Islands' nursing program met the public in the lobby at Schneider Regional Medical Center Monday morning, presenting educational projects that ranged from anti-smoking to CPR training for mothers with infants.
The senior nursing students presented visual displays and spoke about a series of self-initiated projects. The projects were displayed on tables in the hospital's lobby. The students said they felt strongly that they wanted to give something back to the community.
Because teachers are the first responders in critical situations, Tameka Browne designed a program that attempted to insure that all teachers would be certified in CPR and first aid. Her project is called "First Aid for Teachers — Your child's in better hands."
In certain schools, Browne noted, there are no nurses, and this training would enable children to get immediate care in emergency conditions. She ran a pilot program at Seventh Day Adventist School with six teachers. "All have passed their practical skills testing and are now CPR certified," Browne added proudly.
Stacey Penn focused on the effects of secondhand smoke and its elimination from public areas. With her "Creating an Atmosphere for Healthy Air — It's the Law!" project, she presented proposed legislation, which is being reviewed by Sen. Shawn-Michael Malone. "I did a lot of research and refined the proposal," Penn said. "It is currently in legal counsel, and it possible that someday my proposal will become law."
Nihjole Heskey chose the topic of noise pollution. Her presentation was called "Decreasing the Decibels — Can You Hear Me Now? "We have a serious problem with noise pollution in the Virgin Islands, and I am working with Sen. Davis, who is sponsoring legislation. We want to have a public campaign to raise the public's awareness."
In addition to organizing essay contests on the subject, Heskey has also visited schools to teach students about ear hygiene. She has also recorded a PSA on the subject, which has received local airplay.
In her project, "Pathway to Early Motherhood — Knowledge for Pregnant Teens," Jowana Clinkscales created teaching modules to enable young mothers to learn how to care for their newborns appropriately.
"I've included how to bathe the baby, how to diaper, immunize, infant nutrition, breast feed — all sorts of import information that young mother need to know, but never learn," Clinkscales said. She did a pilot program at Charlotte Amalie High School. Because it was so successful, she made copies that have been distributed to many area schools and health clinics.
Damali Johnson-Harrigan designed "A Fitness and Wellness Program at UVI — Where the Employee is the Bottom Line." In it, she instituted a lunch-and-learn program in which she dealt with such topics as stress and hypertension. The sessions went so well that they will continue as part of the university's program on both campuses.
In Maya Berkeley's "Infant CPR — Saving Infants One Breath at a Time," the goal was to teach CPR to mothers who had delivered high-risk infants and to supply them with important, potentially life-saving information.
In addition to giving the mothers hands-on training, Berkeley also provided flip charts on the procedure and a list of emergency contact numbers. "I designed it to be a magnet so that it could be handy at all times just by looking at the refrigerator," she said.
In the last six months, 38 high-risk babies were born, according to Berkley. She also drafted both a hospital policy and administrative guidelines and presented them to the hospital.
As an on-campus student, Dionne Williams saw a need for an expansion beyond the required CPR and First Aid training for residents assistants, so she designed "UVI's Residential Assistants — Skilled and Ready for Action."
In it, she taught RAs to recognize and identify the early signs of different health concerns. "I chose to focus on tuberculosis, because it is on the rise in the Virgin Islands; meningitis, because of the closed population; and various mental and social disorders." She taught all the RAs on both campuses, noting that there are three RAs on St. Croix and nine on St. Thomas.
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