Doug Clark’s eyes lit up as another family walked into the immunization room.
Clark and about 25 other University of Colorado pharmacy, nursing, medical, physician assistant and public health students, faculty and alumni recently volunteered at the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless’ Stout Street Clinic. The annual Back to School Healthy Kids Fair drew some 250 children who received access to health services.
“It’s a lot of fun,” said Clark, a fourth-year pharmacy student. “It’s exciting. It’s what we went to school to do — to interact with people and care for people.”
A total of about 160 volunteers contributed more than 1,000 hours of health care to families who are living in motels, shelters and transitional housing.
Katie Derington, a second-year pharmacy student, and Ania Sablik, a nursing student, staffed another vaccination room.
She noted that fairs such as this also help educate people about health issues.
“It gives me chills thinking about how we’re raising awareness,” she said. “If you don’t start somewhere, how do you expect to make any changes? Disease knows no socioeconomic status, rich or poor.”
Hana Low, another CU nursing school student, said she is interested in providing health care to underserved populations. She aspires to work for the Nurse-Family Partnership, which sends nurses to the homes of low-income patients and first-time mothers for ongoing care.
“Since I speak Spanish I’ve been helping with the screenings (at Stout Street) and getting health histories and working with the families,” she said.
Low is working on a research project that examines how homeless youth access the health-care system. The data will guide researchers on ways to provide youth with necessary health care.
Chris Casey is an internal media specialist with CU Denver.
