PC nursing student awarded service learning grant

PIKEVILLE, Ky. - For Pikeville College nursing student Brooke Day the challenge in promoting the health of childbearing women in Letcher County has been an education in real-world nursing.

Day was awarded a $6,500 Appalachian College Association (ACA) Alexander Citizen Scholar Award for a nursing internship with Mountain Comprehensive Health Care (MCHC) in its Obstetrics & Gynecology clinic in Whitesburg. This scholars program seeks to enrich the student’s academic experience through community service and collaboration with a focus on health. The grant proposal was submitted by Mary R. Simpson, RN, Ph.D., Pikeville College nursing division chair, Lisa Adams, RN, MCHC mentor, and Day, a student in the Elizabeth Akers Elliott nursing program. Day is the daughter of Donna Blair and Ricky Day of Whitesburg.

Day worked alongside the staff RNs and nurse-midwives at MCHC as prenatal women completed health screening, examination, and teaching. A major activity for Day was educating parents during MCHC’s car seat program, which provides new parents with a free infant car seat and instructions on safe use. Day also analyzed data that compared Letcher County statistics on maternal-child health to national statistics.

“The internship was a great opportunity for me to gain nursing experience and work with women in my hometown,” said Day. “Through hands-on experience, I realized I love women’s health.”

Day recently presented her project detailing her internship titled, “Partnership for Maternal Health in Letcher County” during the ACA Annual Summit in Abingdon, Va. The summit showcased the projects of more than 20 award recipients from diverse health majors, including nursing, osteopathic medicine, and social work from ACA colleges in Kentucky, West Virginia, and Virginia.

The ACA’s Alexander Awards for Appalachian Citizen Scholars offer stipends to undergraduate and graduate students in the health sciences to participate in service learning projects. Students, faculty and community leaders work on projects consisting of either policy research or policy implementation. The ACA Alexander Awards for Appalachian Citizen Scholars are supported by the Oakey Logan and Ethel Witherspoon Alexander Fund in the New York Community Trust. Mr. and Mrs. Alexander, natives of West Virginia and Kentucky, respectively, were committed to a vision of a prosperous Appalachia.

For more information on nursing education at Pikeville College, visit nursing.pc.edu.

Pikeville College nursing student Brooke Day, right, works with Laura Bates, ultrasound technician. As part of her nursing internship, Day worked alongside the staff RNs and nurse-midwives at MCHC as prenatal women completed health screening, examination and teaching.