Presented by:Christina Mathis, MBAVictor Rodriguez-Cruz, BS

Who are AHEC Interdisciplinary Community Health Scholars?

AHEC Interdisciplinary Community Health Scholars are health professions students interested in working in medically underserved communities on a series of tobacco prevention and education projects.

Students spend eight weeks of the summer working part-time at Gulfcoast North AHEC in Land O Lakes, Florida. The students will work to develop and implement anti-tobacco programs with medically vulnerable populations.

Who are AHEC Interdisciplinary Community Health Scholars?

AHEC Interdisciplinary Community Health Scholars are health professions students interested in working in medically underserved communities on a series of tobacco prevention and education projects.

Students spend eight weeks of the summer working part-time at Gulfcoast North AHEC in Land O Lakes, Florida. The students will work to develop and implement anti-tobacco programs with medically vulnerable populations.

Who is eligible?

Health professions students from a variety of fields pursing careers in primary care, public health, and social work are invited to apply.

Students include:Medical students between their first and second years of medical school (rising second year students)Graduate nurse practitioner students in the areas of adult, family, pediatrics, or psychiatric/mental healthGraduate public health studentsGraduate social work studentsPhysical therapy doctoral studentsUndergraduate nursing studentsUndergraduate health professions students

ICHS Two Component ProgramThe ICHS experience is comprised of two components:

Interdisciplinary Classroom Experience: Students will spend a few days throughout the summer program in an orientation or classroom setting. Orientations include AHEC 101, Cultural Competency, Introduction to the world of tobacco, etc.

Interdisciplinary Community Based Experience: The remaining days of the program will be spent implementing and evaluating the tobacco project in the community.

The What ICHS Program

Students are tasked with tobacco-related projects and activities that will be completed throughout the course of the program.

Teams will disseminate these deliverables in underserved communities by collaborating with local health and social service agencies.

Teams will work out of the AHEC office and be in compliance with regular business hours. Each individual AHEC sets the schedule for the students. For example: Tuesdays, Wednesday and Thursdays, 8 hours per day, for 8 weeks.

The What contAs part of the program, students will attend an orientation and seminars throughout the 8-week experience.

The remaining days will be spent working as a team on the identified project. Attendance at all seminars is required.

Students will formally present results of their efforts, in both oral and written format to AHEC staff and guests upon completion of the experience.

Where will students conduct their projects?

ICHS projects will be conducted at the AHEC office.

Throughout the duration of the ICHS internship students will participate in a few field trips to visit medically underserved sites.

These field trips help introduce the students to a multitude of different populations who access health care from these sites.

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Program Requirements:

Interdisciplinary Community Health Project: Scholarly presentation and PowerPoint/multimedia presentation to be presented throughout the eight weeks.

Service/Learning Journal (reflections on the ICHS experience submitted electronically to AHEC faculty weekly).

Program attendance/participation is mandatory. Students are required to attend all sessions.

Written final program evaluation is due by the end of the eight week program.

What are the program goals?

To expose students to health disparities and underserved populations.

To create opportunities for health professions students to participate as members on an interdisciplinary team.

To increase individual and community awareness regarding the devastating effects of tobacco.

To provide students with opportunities to create and disseminate tobacco prevention programs, messages and materials to underserved communities and to the professionals who care for them.

Service Learning Project

Service-Learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities( www.servicelearning.org ).

Quote from the Learn & Serve Americas National Service-Learning Clearinghouse website, www.servicelearning.org

Service Learning

Service-Learning is a structured learning experience that engages students in service to their communities as part of their academic studies

Service-Learning helps students master important subject matter by making meaningful connections between what they are studying and its many applications

Components

Preparation-Students must prepare to serve and learn

Service-Project must fulfill a legitimate community need

Reflection-Students reflect upon the service learning experience

Evaluation/Assessment-Students and the community evaluate the project

Celebration-Students share the project with the faculty and community partners

For Example

Community ServiceStudents remove trash from a streambed

Service-LearningWhen the students remove trash from a streambed they:Analyze what they found & possible sourcesShare the results with neighborhood residents along with suggestions for reducing pollution

Program IncentivesStudents will receive a $2,500 stipend, to be dispersed throughout their time working on the eight week project.

Students may be eligible to receive elective course credit/field experience from their respective academic programs for their participation (pending approval of advisor and/or field placement coordinator).

Participation provides an excellent experience to include on rsums and contacts can be made for possible future career opportunities

Travel Stipends (beyond commuting to/from the AHEC office) are provided.

What kinds of projects do students develop

ICHS projects should and will address one or more aspects of tobacco use/nicotine addiction based on the local needs and priorities of your counties.

Populations ranging from pregnant women, youth/young adults all the way to adults with chronic diseases related to tobacco should be targeted.

Projects will cover a variety of topics concerning tobacco prevention and educationA few example topics are :Youth tobacco preventionSpit/chew tobacco educationChronic/Obstructive Pulmonary Disease awareness/educationDevelopment and dissemination of anti-tobacco messages through youth- oriented social networking applications (podcasts, Face Book, My Space, Second Life, etc).

ICHS Tobacco Project Components:

Dangers of smokeless tobacco, Hookah, and other nicotine containing habits Create a podcast and or video to be distributed to students

Myths about Big Tobacco and Advertising

Second-hand Smoke

Oral Health

Learn, schedule and present COPD Presentations in Citrus County.

Test pilot all presentations in the community. Modify presentations based on participant evaluations.

Create participant evaluations.

Blog about your project on the internet weekly.

Be Creative

09 ICHS Tobacco Presentation:

The following topics were discussed in detail in this project. Different types of tobacco products (, etc)CigarettesBidisMenthol CigarettesKreteks (clove cigarettes)CigarsSmokeless tobacco Chewing tobaccoSnus SnuffArivaCamel Orbs, Strips, SticksPunk Ash

HookahHealth risks of tobacco useRespiratory disorders Oral complicationsCardiovascular diseaseCancers Reproductive disordersCommunicable and transmittable infections Nicotine addictionSecond and third-hand smoke

Purpose of ICHS 09 projectTo provide an overview of the different types of harmful tobacco productsTo present the health risks of using tobacco productsTo expose some of the myths about tobacco products and tobacco companies

ICHS 09 Presentation OutlineStatistics about SmokingCigarettes and CigarsSmokeless Tobacco Other Nicotine Containing HabitsHookahSecond & Third-Hand SmokeDangerous Effects of Tobacco UseAdvertisingMyths about Big Tobacco

Team Final Report Guidelines

Team must utilize specified guidelines to describe their experiences as an interdisciplinary community health scholar team during the summer.

All team members should contribute to the writing of the final report and all are encouraged to take pictures throughout the duration of the summer to include in their final PowerPoint presentation and written report.

Students should feel free to include anything else they believe could help to better describe their experiences over the summer internship.

Student will be required to submit a final copy of their team report on the last day of the program

Project Planning and Implementation

Briefly describe the project topic and need (this was pre-arranged for the team).

How did the team plan and implement the project in the community? (include such things as number of presentations, sites, etc., if appropriate)

What obstacles were encountered? & How were they addressed?

What was helpful in the planning and implementation of the project?

How were the cultural/linguistic needs of the population addressed?

In terms of the interdisciplinary composition of the team, describe the role(s) each team member played during the planning, implementation and evaluation of the project

Project Evaluation

Discuss specific strengths/weaknesses of the project from a team standpoint.

Provide a summary of the results of evaluations from program participants, if applicable.

If you were to implement the project again, how would you change it?.

What recommendations would you make to AHEC? Should the project be continued (why or why not)?

As a result of your project, are there any policy recommendations that could be made to the community partner project site(s), local community, county, region, state, or nation?

How the ICHS Students Implemented the ProjectResearch on tobaccoContacted organizations in the communityCreated and ordered visual aidsPrepared and complied presentations, evaluation forms, and handoutsRehearsed and planned presentations

Demographics and Populations Served?

Thank You

QUESTIONS?

*******************TALKING POINTS: As I have briefly mentioned earlier we are here to provide you with an overview about the different of products that contain tobacco. We are also going to present some of the health risks that are connected to using tobacco. And lastly we are going to expose some of the myths and tactics that tobacco products use to try and attract younger people *NOTE TO PRESENTER: This is just an overview slide to give the audience an overview of the topics being covered.

TALKING POINTS: These are all the topics that will be covered in these presentation. (Read the bullets)Statistics about SmokingCigarettes and CigarsSmokeless Tobacco Other Nicotine Containing HabitsHookahSecond & Third-Hand SmokeDangerous Effects of Tobacco UseAdvertisingMyths about Big Tobacco

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