by Tara Beverly

In honor of American Heart Health Month, Community Service Programs (CSP) held an open house from 8 a.m. until noon in the bottom floor of Grosvenor Hall, where its offices are located. Medical students, nurses and community members attended for blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar screenings. Snacks such as fruit, coffee cake and juice were provided for those who attended. CSP’s Mobile Health Unit was also parked outside of Grosvenor and was available for tours.

Nancy Schell, program coordinator of CSP, was very excited about the event.

“Earlier this month, on Feb. 4, we had women’s “Go Red Day,” an opportunity for women to get blood and glucose screenings. It was such a success we wanted to do more screenings later in the month. It is important for us to involve medical students and faculty, because to many people here at the medical school, we are an unknown department. We are not strictly clinical and not academic. We wanted to take advantage of this day to reach out to the students and encourage them to come work with us in the community,” says Shell.

During the open house, visitors walked along tables, which were made into different screening stations. At each table a nurse or medical student administered cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar screenings. One table was decorated with signs and posters and on it laid pamphlets and booklets about different programs that CSP provides and general information about CSP.

Candace Brown, second-year student, was very interested. She came out to learn more about CSP and to get screened.  

“I’ve been screened for just about everything today. I fasted this morning to get a more accurate screening. This event was very helpful. So many times we, as medical students, are so busy studying and on the go that we forget to take care of ourselves. We don’t exercise and eat healthy, which can lead to hypertension and heart disease. These screenings allow for early detection of those problems,” says Brown.

Nick Kimpel, second-year student, was also very appreciative of the open house. He discussed his feeling on the event while getting a blood pressure screening.

“I think it’s wonderful that they provide a free screening service to students, staff and community members. I learned a lot about CSP today. I think that their programs are great. They provide a value service to the Athens and surrounding areas,” says Kimpel.

Janice Smith, Healthy Adult Project coordinator, worked at the event. As she did a blood sugar screening on a student, she discussed what a success the event had been thus far.

“We have been very busy today. We have done more than 30 screenings. There were a few people from the public, but mostly we have had students. The students seem to be coming out and supporting our program. We are excited that they came to see what we are about,” she says.

In addition to these free screenings, year round area-wide services provided by CSP include the Childhood Immunization Program, the Healthy Adult Program, the Perinatal Services/Baby Steps Program, the Well Child Program, the Healthy Child Care Ohio Nurse Consultants, the Well Child/Well Families program, the Healthy Families program and the AmeriCorps program.