Last semester, Jane Anderson not only learned what a public health nurse might do for our community, she also helped provide supportive
advice for a community nonprofit, Lincoln Littles.
“Overall, I was able to learn a lot about public health nurses and what it means to help the community as a whole,” said the senior-level student who attends the College of Nursing at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. “Public health is always looking for ways to improve and to aid the population involved.”
The magic happened in a class called “Populations,” which matches nursing students with community organizations – apart from health care facilities – so they can both learn from one another, and so nursing students can promote health within additional populations.In what they named the Lincoln Littles Stress Relief project, Anderson and her classmates specifically focused on ways to improve the health, wellbeing and stress levels of early childcare providers, then developed a stress-relief brochure with wellness tips and resources.
“We saw the biggest health issue needing intervention was the stress that is seen among the staff members when dealing with children and working throughout the day,” Anderson said. “We aimed to increase wellness and wellbeing within the population while working at the centers.”
Their resulting suggestions were broad and diverse, including:
- Start a gardening program at the early childcare centers.
- Try yoga with the children as well as additional stress-reducing techniques.
- Get parents on board and educate them in ways to deal with “big” behaviors in young children.
- Teach staff members how to take their own blood pressure, blood sugar, and navigate their own health needs.
“The partnership with UNMC is great for so many reasons,” said Julie Jones-Branch, Workforce Program Manager with Lincoln Littles. “The
students were fantastic, very enthusiastic about learning more about early childhood programs in our community and the stresses adults caring for children face in their work settings.”
She said Lincoln Littles had been working to develop an overall wellness program for the early childhood workforce – that includes stress management – and the nursing students helped assess the childcare centers firsthand to gain insight on what was truly needed to further develop such a wellness initiative.
“There’s such value in any opportunity to cross disciplines, in this case, early childhood and the medical community,” Jones-Branch said. “It strengthens what each discipline knows about the other. We hope to continue the partnership with UNMC to further inform our work and workforce needs in early childhood.”
Anna Swartzlander, a clinical instructor in the UNMC College of Nursing as well as a licensed Nurse Practitioner, agreed. “I think it was great to expose our students to the challenges of early childhood and daycare centers – to the vast differences between the different types of centers. It really opened student eyes to health disparities children face at a very young age.”
Swartzlander explained that the project started with four nursing students meeting with leaders of Lincoln Littles, then visiting and observing four different childcare facilities under the Lincoln Littles umbrella.
“They focused on the stress factors that providers face and researched how to mitigate and ease those stresses,” she said. “I’m proud of the results. They came up with some solid advice. And, as an added plus, our students love working with young children.”
Both organizations plan to partner again as soon as possible, Swartzlander said. “I think we could grow going forward and tackle additional issues.”
Anderson said she learned much. “This public health project really allowed me to see how I as a nurse can impact the health of other populations by using my knowledge along with experience. This project in particular allowed me to see some real effects of stress and how it can truly affect someone’s health and wellbeing. This was really rewarding knowing our hard work with the population can pay off.”