NSU Horizons Spring 2016

39 NSU HORIZONS BY KATHLEEN KERNICKY The Fort Myers Campus Makes an Impact Through Community Service t NSU’s Fort Myers Campus, students are stepping outside the classroom and creating a footprint of community service. Consider Project SEED (Serving Everyone, Embracing Diversity), an outreach program serving Immokalee, an agricultural and tomato- growing community 35 miles southeast of Fort Myers. In Immokalee, almost 40 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, and it is home to the region’s migrant farmworkers. Founded by NSU Fort Myers’ physician assistant students, Project SEED partners with the campus nursing program, area businesses, and a local church to sponsor an annual health fair in Immokalee. Students provide blood pressure and blood sugar checks, visual acuity exams, and nutritional and eye safety education to an underserved migrant community. Such exams are imperative pre-screening tools for adult chronic dis- eases such as hypertension and diabetes. “Through the years, many people have been found to have dangerously high glucose and blood pressure readings, and students and faculty have guided them to appropriate health centers,” said Kyrus Patch, D.H.Sc. , assistant professor and program director of the physician assistant program at the Fort Myers campus. “This first-hand experience is invaluable for the students’ training while providing a service to the community.” Five years after its inception in 2010, the fair has grown to more than 400 participants, according to Maria Tsambarlis and Christina Cellini, physician assistant students who coordinate Project SEED. Both students are set to graduate in August 2017. “The goal of Project SEED is to impact the lives of the local farmworkers and their families by providing health care services and education where access to health care is limited,” Cellini said. “This program allows for a bond to be made between the migrant worker community and NSU. It is the hope and premise of Project SEED that this bond may encourage the community to be more trusting of the medical system and more apt to identify and seek medical attention.” In 2015, Project SEED teamed with NSU Athletics to donate gently used athletic equipment to Immokalee youths. Eyeglasses, gloves, bicycles, clothing, and computers also were donated to the community. “We handed out 150 pairs of reading glasses, approximately 300 protective sunglasses and gloves, 32 bicycles, 10 laptops, an abundance of donated clothing, 20 soccer balls, footballs, and other sports equipment for the children,” Tsambarlis said, noting that they ran out of reading glasses during the first two hours. “Community outreach opportunities allow the students to explore what it truly means to be a health care provider,” Patch said. “Until they personally experience providing care