Member Spotlight: Lauren Hudak

Name: Lauren Hudak

Position: Women's Services Outreach Associate

Host Site: Shands Jacksonville Medical Center

Hometown: Milford, Connecticut

Graduate Degree: Masters of Public Health from The University of Pittsburgh

Undergraduate Degree: B.S. Cytogenetics from The University of Connecticut

 

Hello fellow blog followers. Shands Jacksonville is located in downtown Jacksonville, which is documented to have the highest rates of infant mortality in Duval County. I serve alongside another AmeriCorps member: Sheila Rahimpour. We serve together to assist high risk pregnant women obtain access to care, health education, and health screenings. This is achieved through a multifacted approach since my position involves several programs offered at Shands Jacksonville specifically aimed at decreasing infant mortality rates in Duval County.

The Little Miracles Program is offered to every woman willing to deliver at Shands and is a support program for assisting women achieve early and consistent prenatal care. I am involved in this process by following up with women who visit the Women's Acute Care (which is the emergency department dedicated specifically to pregnant women) who have been determined to not have medical insurance and then direct them to the Little Miracles Program to fill out a simplified Medicaid application. I also follow up with pregnant women who visit the pediatric and adult emergency rooms at Shands to confirm they have both health insurance and a prenatal care provider. If not, I also direct these women to the Little Miracles program.

On December 1, 2012, the Little Miracles program hosted a community baby shower at Shands Jacksonville where Sheila and I educated the participants on Centering Pregnancy. Centering is model of prenatal care where a small group of women with similar gestational ages meet together for their prenatal appointments. Here the group of women are able to support one another as they experience their pregnancies together. This format allows each woman to have a longer time receiving health education sessions, as each appointment is 2 hours long and there are approximately 10 appointments total throughout the span of the pregnancy. During this time each participant is also seen privately by a medical professional for assessment in an exam room. At the beginning of each appointment the women engage in self-care activities such as recording their weight, temperature and blood pressure. This eliminates wait time and allows every appointment to start right on time!

I also participate in Healthy Start, which is a state-wide program offered to every pregnant woman in the state of Florida. There are several other North Florida Heath Corps members who are involved in the Healthy Start program and I'm sure you will hear more about Healthy Start services in their blog posts.

There is so much to learn at my host site while helping to educate my clients.  I do not feel one day has passed during the past 4 months of service that I have not learned something new myself. I hope that continues to happen every day until the end of my term with NFHC.

Member Spotlight: John Brice

Name: John Brice
Position: Sex Educator
Degree: BA in English and Psychology from East Carolina University; MPH in progress from Capella University
Hometown: Pittsboro, NC
Favorite Part of Jacksonville: The city at night when it's all lit up
Currently Listening To: World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Soundtrack

Here at the Northeast Florida Healthy Start Coalition one of my service duties is to implement a comprehensive sex education program with middle and high school students located in low-income apartment complexes in Jacksonville. The curriculum, called “4Me”, was created by the Medical College of Wisconsin Center for AIDS Intervention Research (CAIR). The program seeks to supplement abstinence-based education programs, which is the standard in most Florida school systems, and shed light on STI’s, healthy sexual behaviors, and need for contraceptive information and expertise. By dispelling myths that many teens have heard, the “sex talk” becomes more informal, yet informative. The encouragement of discussion instead of a one-sided lecture allows students to become more involved in their learning process.

John teaching comprehensive sex education
to a group of students

Another program that is currently in the development to implementation stage are the co-parenting and father-only classes that I host in service sites like the Baker County Health Department, Baker County Sheriff’s Complex, Operation New Hope, and Sulzbacher Center for the Homeless. By implementing positive parenting classes in Duval and Baker County, the goal is to decrease the number of father-absent homes in Northeast Florida and to improve self-esteem, self-worth, and knowledge of health and relationship issues with parents in regards to their families. Using curriculums implemented by the National Fatherhood Initiative, these programs called “Inside/Out Dad” and “24/7 Dad” will prove successful in these two communities and increase parent/parent and parent/child relationships.

I feel that my time in North Florida Health Corps will prove to be a success and I look forward to a second term in AmeriCorps as well!

John Brice, MPH(c), EMT-I

December Service Projects

Mindy Chan, Anneke Demmink, Camille Brockett and Kristine Ferrer
at St. Francis Soup Kitchen.

The first of the North Florida Health Corps' service projects for the month of December took place at the St. Francis Soup Kitchen in Downtown Jacksonville. The St. Francis Soup Kitchen is unique in that it is run entirely by volunteers and is open only on Saturdays. Our members helped prepare the meal and desserts, distribute canned goods, as well as serve the meal and help clean up after the lunch. 

NFHC member Mandy Chan said, "I definitely found the service rewarding as we helped to feed the hungry and saw the results as some people would come up to the kitchen and thanked us for the good food. Seeing the amount of people who came through the doors to be fed was amazing. We could see the impact we were making that Saturday morning."

Tristan Morioka, Abby Bradford, and Tatiana Giustizia
sign parents up for the Holiday Toy Drive.

Often lost in the excitement surrounding Christmas and the winter holidays is the sad fact that many parents and families are unable to provide their children with presents as a part of the celebrations.

This past December the NFHC decided to do its part to help these families by volunteering at the R&K Family Center Toy Giveaway.  Members spent the morning registering parents and their children and then passing out all kinds of fun toys and books to the excited kids.

The toy giveaway is just one of the initiatives of the R&K Family Center which focuses on mental health case management, anti-poverty food and clothing assistance, and literacy tutoring in Jacksonville.

While many members traveled home early for the holidays, on December 24^th several members of the North Florida Health Corps spent the majority of their day hosting a food and hygiene drive for the Jacksonville Area Sexual Minority Youth Network, better known as JASMYN.

Lauren Pamas, Liana Broomans, Brittany Lomax,
Lauren Hudak, and Samantha Kwiatkowski
collect donations for JASMYN on Christmas Eve.

JASMYN’s mission is to support local LGBTQ youth by providing health services, youth development services, a safe space, and a food and hygiene pantry for their disenfranchised youth. Since 1998, JASMYN has empowered over 25,000 youth. During the holidays non-perishable food and hygiene item donations are most needed by the organization for their food pantry.

Samantha Kwiatkowski, an NFHC member, spent the weeks leading up to the event planning with the JASMYN staff and coordinating with local businesses in an effort to promote the food drive and get word out into the community.

The generosity demonstrated by Jacksonville residents, particularly those in the Riverside neighborhood, was above and beyond what was expected. One local purchased an entire shopping cart worth of items to give. 

Members felt great about their ability to give back to the LGBTQ community in Jacksonville. Spending the holiday eve running the food drive was found to be especially rewarding. JASMYN appreciated the time and effort put in as well. As one staff member stated, “You all rock!”

Member Spotlight: Anneke Demmink

Name: Anneke Demmink

Position: Clinical Health Educator

Degree: Psychology and Sociology from UNC

Hometown: Roaring Gap, NC

Favorite part of Jacksonville:  Living in the Riverside area

Currently working on:  Applications to graduate school programs for my Masters in Public Health.

I am currently serving as an AmeriCorps member with the North Florida Health Corps. As a Clinical Health Educator with the Maternal and Child Health Division of the Duval County Health Department, I provide education about reproductive and sexual health topics and family planning services to the community of Jacksonville, Florida. In addition to health education, I conducted pre- and post-test counseling for HIV screenings. My services are split between Jacksonville Job Corps, a federally funded vocational program for youth, and the Rainbow Center at Shands Hospital which is primarily a clinic for HIV positive individuals.
During the first four months of my service term I have accomplished a great deal. These accomplishments include personal growth, as well as the growth of knowledge within the community I am serving as a result of my health education efforts. I strongly believe that I am learning as much from this experience as my clients are learning from their sessions with me. I am gaining invaluable perspective and insights from the conversations and opportunities I get to participate in as a part of my AmeriCorps service.  I am more culturally aware and informed than I have ever been. In addition, my communication skills have vastly improved as well as my sensitivity to health topics. Perhaps the most beneficial of all, is my increased awareness of the type of health issues the underserved community of Jacksonville faces everyday.

Anneke demonstrates how to properly use a condom.

The community of Jacksonville is a special one.  Many of its youth are eager to learn and better their own lives given the knowledge and appropriate tools to do so. Thus has been my experience serving at Jacksonville Job Corps.  The students that attend Job Corps are there for one reason: To gain the skills and certifications that will make them more employable and able to succeed in the workforce. A large number of these youth never finished high school and will be working towards achieving their GED as well as other certifications such as Certified Nurse Assistant, Pharmacy Technician, Computer Science Technician, and more. In my experience, many these students are not only eager to become more employable, but they are also ready to take responsibility for their health and well-being.  This is an important step in bettering their own lives that will have a lasting impact on their future.
For many of these students, I am the first person to have an open and honest conversation with them about sexual and reproductive health. I take great pride in knowing that I am giving these students information that will encourage them to make decisions in such a way that promotes a safe and healthy sexual experience. It is difficult to expect people to behave in health conscious and responsible ways without providing them adequate information and knowledge to do so. I consider myself lucky enough to be one of the people helping to spread this knowledge that can directly improve the well-being and health of the Jacksonville community. It’s inspiring how receptive my clients are to the information I provide them. Their positive responses and feedback give me direct proof that what I am doing is making a difference. There’s nothing more satisfying or encouraging as that.

Host-Site Spotlight: Jessica Ball at the Women's Center

Name: Jessica Ball

Position: Care Coordinator of Bosom Buddies at the Women’s Center of Jacksonville
Degree: Anthropology and Zoology from the University of Florida
Hometown: Pensacola, FL
Favorite part of Jacksonville: The beach! Also, driving home at night when the bridges light up and look gorgeous.
Currently Listening To:  Holiday music station on Pandora. 

             Serving with the NFHC has been such a rewarding experience.  October was Breast Cancer Awareness Month, so I have been busy since day one of my service, which has allowed me to learn so much in a short amount of time.  As the Care Coordinator, I conduct breast health educational presentations in Jacksonville, refer women to services for breast cancer prevention and treatment, coordinate weekly support group meetings, expand community awareness of Bosom Buddies and Young Survivors support groups, and attend health fairs. 

          One thing that I love about my host site is that no one is ever called a victim.  From the moment someone is diagnosed, they are a survivor. My service allows me to help these survivors conquer any challenge that life or cancer throws at them.  A young woman called me with symptoms that were very suspicious of breast cancer but could not find a way to pay for a mammogram.  She was at the end of her rope just about to give up, but I was able to refer her to a clinic for a free mammogram.  Something as simple as that could have saved her life, and I am able to help women like her every day.  I cannot imagine any other position right out of college that would allow me to make a difference while doing service that I’m passionate about.
           When many people are first diagnosed, they can’t help but to feel lost, alone, and afraid. I am the coordinator of the Survivor Advocate Program that provides a support system for newly diagnosed women by pairing them with a breast cancer survivor to serve as their advocate.  The trained advocates attend medical appointments, take notes, and help coordinate and schedule doctor’s visits.  In November, I planned a training session for five new Survivor Advocates.  Hopefully by the end of my term even more new advocates will be trained, so that dozens of women in Jacksonville will have the help of a fellow survivor. 
            In October, my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer.  Ever since her diagnosis, I have valued my position even more.  Bosom Buddies has a library of information about breast cancer awareness, treatment, and recovery.  I have found the information that we have for the family and caregivers of cancer survivors to be especially helpful.  We also have free bras and prosthesis for women after a mastectomy, and wigs, scarves, and hats for women during chemotherapy.  October may have been Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but breast cancer works all year round.  I hope that throughout my ten months of service, I can make as much of a difference as possible. 
         

Member Spotlight: Camille Brockett at the Arc

Name: Camille Brockett

Position: Wellness Coordinator at the Arc Jacksonville Downtown

Degree: Graphic Design and Communication from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA

Hometown: Ridgecrest, CA

Favorite part of Jacksonville: All of the fun and free activities like the Art Walks and Riverside Arts Market and the many thrift stores!

Currently reading:  GRE study books

I am three and a half months into my service term and I couldn’t feel more at home at my host site. Serving at the Arc Jacksonville Downtown is a fun, challenging and rewarding experience because I serve a great population. As a Wellness Coordinator, I teach adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities about nutrition and exercise. Each day I educate twenty students about healthy eating and fun ways to get moving. Not only do I teach my students, but I offer programs to all Arc participants including Walk-A-Mile Wednesday and help plan healthy activities for Arc events.

            The Arc’s mission is “to provide advocacy and quality services that enable people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to achieve their full potential, enhance their full potential, enhance their quality of life and be active participants in their communities.” I educate my clients to achieve their full potential and enhance their quality of life by giving them the tools to lead healthy lives. Unfortunately people with disabilities experience health disparities when compared to the general population including high rates of emergency room visits, high rates of debilitating conditions that can be prevented, and lower rates of formal education, physical activity and social participation.

            Promoting health and wellness is part of the mission of the National Health Corps, and I do just that every day to a population that needs it I am able to plan my own creative curriculum in order to meet my clients’ various levels of understanding. We’ve learned the Thriller dance for exercise during Halloween, had hands-on cooking classes for all five food groups and are currently learning our new holiday dance.  Many of my students have a new found love for vegetables such as asparagus and brussel sprouts as a result of one of our cooking classes. 

            Despite serving at the Arc just a short time, my students have welcomed me with open arms and we enjoy our time learning and exercising together.  I couldn’t be more happy with my experience thus far in the North Florida Health Corps so far and am excited to see what adventures the remainder of our term will bring!