{"id":3361,"date":"2024-08-23T05:00:01","date_gmt":"2024-08-23T05:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazines.uthscsa.edu\/schools\/?p=3361"},"modified":"2025-01-06T17:39:35","modified_gmt":"2025-01-06T17:39:35","slug":"empathy-in-motion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazines.uthscsa.edu\/schools\/2024\/08\/23\/empathy-in-motion\/","title":{"rendered":"Empathy in motion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three nursing students \u2014 armed with basic medical supplies \u2014 set out to offer care to individuals experiencing homelessness on the streets of downtown San Antonio. The School of Nursing\u2019s Population Focused Health course advances an educational model that promotes compassionate care.<\/em><\/h4>\n

A street nursing education model teaches students compassionate care<\/strong><\/h2>\n

By Orith Farago<\/p>\n

For the homeless community living on San Antonio\u2019s streets, medical care can feel out of reach. For these vulnerable patients, nothing is taken for granted. Especially compassion.<\/p>\n

Through The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio School of Nursing\u2019s<\/a> Street Nursing program, undergraduate students can participate in a street nursing clinical rotation that incorporates cultural sensitivity into its approach to providing care, allowing students to see the homeless community through a lens of empathy.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou actually think of how you help the human being \u2014 not the protocols, not the institution,\u201d said street nursing clinical rotation founder Diana Cavazos, PhD, MHSA, MSN<\/a>, School of Nursing associate professor. Cavazos said students learn not to stigmatize, not make assumptions and, most importantly, to hear the patient\u2019s story.<\/p>\n

And there are many stories to hear from San Antonio\u2019s climbing homeless population \u2014 accounting for more than 3,100 people in 2023, according to the South Alamo Regional Alliance for the Homeless.<\/p>\n

Helping vulnerable residents<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In 2019, the School of Nursing partnered with Corazon Ministries \u2014 a nonprofit organization that provides needed resources to the city\u2019s most vulnerable populations \u2014\u00a0to introduce a new clinical site option for undergraduate nursing students enrolled in the Population Focused Health course.<\/p>\n

As part of the course, students take a theory class, and then once each week, they implement what they learn by going to a local business on the city\u2019s West Side to provide first aid, wound care and more to the homeless population in collaboration with Corazon Ministries.<\/p>\n

Cavazos said students\u2019 firsthand experiences with the homeless community have been pivotal to shaping their perceptions as future health care providers.<\/p>\n

Closing the gap<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Growing up, nursing student Deanna Spear was taught not to look at or talk to homeless people. After taking part in the street nursing clinical rotation, she saw homeless patients with a new understanding.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really opened my eyes, and I look forward to ways of trying to figure out how can we close that gap for them because they can\u2019t do it on their own,\u201d Spear said.<\/p>\n

During one encounter with an elderly gentleman who was out of breath, Spear asked if he was all right and if she could get him some water. His response: \u201cI\u2019m done.\u201d What Spear learned he meant is that he wanted to be done with his addiction. Spear and her team coordinated the man\u2019s travel to a treatment center that day.<\/p>\n

Nursing student Francisco Hernandez had an especially enlightening experience working with a homeless diabetic patient who stood out because of the drastic turn his life had taken.<\/p>\n

Hernandez learned that the patient had been an accountant, married with children.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just took one turn for it to all just kind of go away,\u201d Hernandez said. \u201cThat made it entirely real for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

For nursing student Frank Jenkins, talking with people in recovery from substance abuse gave him a new perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could put them in the same shoes as people I know in my personal life,\u201d Jenkins said. \u201cThese aren\u2019t just people that you try to look through. You\u2019ve got to look at them and see the hurt and the need that they have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jenkins said the street nursing clinical rotation has given him and his classmates new insights and provided an important opportunity to be ambassadors to their entire nursing cohort.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we talk about what we see and what we do out in the field, it helps to change the minds of our fellow classmates,\u201d Jenkins said.<\/p>\n

Another way to help<\/strong><\/h3>\n

UT Health San Antonio students who are unable to participate in the clinical rotation can volunteer through UT Health San Antonio Street Nursing, a student-led organization that provides care on the streets with an interdisciplinary team including doctors, nurses, physician assistants and social workers. Volunteers have a brief virtual orientation for safety purposes before going out in the field.<\/p>\n

Students from any UT Health San Antonio school can donate their time, and community members can donate medical supplies or clothing by contacting Cavazos at Cavazosdm@uthscsa.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The UT Health San Antonio School of Nursing\u2019s street nursing program provides for the immediate health needs of San Antonio’s homeless community. 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