On May 5, nursing professor Jennifer Dacey Allen and 40 Boston College students provided free health care services to community residents at a one-day clinic held at The Voice of the Gospel Tabernacle outside of Mattapan Square. The group included students from the Connell School of Nursing and the College of Arts and Sciences (bottom row—l to r) Jina Rameau ’07; Nicolas Homicil, pastor of the Voice of the Gospel Tarbernacle; Allen; (top row—l to r) Dana Mars ’07; Brenna Ayers ’07; Minochy Delanois ’07; Trinh Tang ’07; Ethiopia Russell ’07; Dock Winston of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Veronica Maunz ’07; Megan Green’07; and Chanda Beaty ’11.
More than 150 people came to the clinic, some lining up two hours before its start. Students offered blood pressure screenings, glucose monitoring, body mass indexing, information on medication management, and health and nutrition counseling. Participants also received free cancer screenings and diagnostic evaluations at three health care vans provided on-site by the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and area community groups. At the end of the four-hour clinic, the group provided 30 mammograms, 20 prostate exams, 50 eye and ear tests, and countless blood pressure readings, says Dacey Allen.
The idea for the clinic came from Dacey Allen’s community nursing clinical laboratory, an undergraduate class that focuses on health promotion, disease prevention, and community resources. Together with Allen, her students worked with Dana-Farber, Pastor Nicolas Homicil, and community partners to organize, fund, and publicize the fair, designed to reach out to residents of Haitian neighborhoods in Boston.
Some of the Boston College volunteers are of Haitian descent, says Dacey Allen, and were able to speak Haitian Creole with many of the fair’s clients.
“If you want to change health care disparities in the community, you need to develop long-standing relationships and trust with its residents,” says Dacey Allen, who also researches cancer morbidity and mortality in underserved communities at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
The event, which Dacey Allen hopes to make an annual project, was sponsored by Boston College, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, The Voice of the Gospel Tabernacle, Catholic Charities, and other community groups.