Students in Brief
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* Natalie McGill

## Texas health students collaborate on care

Texas A&M Health Science Center students are joining forces across disciplines to provide wraparound care for low-income state residents.

![Figure1](http://www.thenationshealth.org/http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/nathealth/45/7/15.2/F1.medium.gif)

[Figure1](http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/45/7/15.2/F1)

Texas A&M Health Science Center students discuss healthy eating with a McAllen, Texas, resident at an April Project SHINE event.

Photo courtesy Texas A&M Rangel College of Pharmacy

Project Service and Help Through Interprofessional Network Experience, also known as Project SHINE, formed as a way to give health care services, such as immunizations, to underserved residents living in southern Texas close to the Mexico border.

The school’s American Pharmacists Association Academy of Student Pharmacists chapter began the project in 2013.

Pharmacy students teamed up with medical, nursing and public health students to boost access to health care services in areas where most residents speak Spanish and there is a high number of people living below the poverty line and without health insurance, said Chris Espino, MPH, a project co-chair and pharmacy student at the school’s Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy.

The group of about 100 students helped plan and facilitate health fairs in November and April at middle schools in Penitas and McAllen, Texas.

Between both events, students reached about 200 people with services that included both blood glucose test screenings and individual counseling sessions.

Thanks to a Healthy Kids Healthy Families grant from Blue Cross Blue Shield, the project received vaccines via the Hidalgo County Health and Human Services Department to give to health fair attendees for free. The group provided flu shots in November and meningitis vaccines in April for school-age kids.

Espino said it is important to have multiple disciplines of health care at the table in treating a patient — especially for chronic disease.

“Having an interprofessional health care approach allows the health care team to tailor the care and treatment accordingly in order to treat the patient wholly,” Espino said.

## Georgia students tackle women’s needs

For women who are homeless, feminine care products such as tampons are hard to come by. But a University of Georgia student-run program hopes to fill that need.

Four students in the university’s College of Public Health and School of Public and International Affairs created (fem)me, a program that delivers packages of tampons or pads to women living in Athens-area shelters.

The proposal for the program won first place in the fourth annual Public Policy Challenge National Invitational in Philadelphia in March, where students Nicole La Tournous, Brianna Roberts, Philip McAuley and Paula Buchanan won $10,000 to implement it.

Not having access to hygiene products can worsen the mental and physical health of women living in shelters, said Roberts, a second-year student in the university’s School of Public and International Affairs. Women who lack access to hygiene products may resort to using alternatives such as rags or socks, which could affect their health, she said.

Even if some women do have access to the products, they may use them for longer than their intended use, increasing their risk for infection.

For (fem)me, kits have tampons or pads in addition to feminine wipes, hand sanitizer, pain reliever and a targeted health care message, Roberts said.

Roberts and La Tournous have taken the lead on the program, which has partnered with the Northeast Georgia Coalition for the Homeless. As of late July, they conducted interviews with shelters to find out exactly what women need in their kits and planned on making deliveries to a small group of shelters before reaching their goal of all Athens-area shelters by the fall.

For more information, visit [www.respectfemme.org](http://www.respectfemme.org).

## Ohio students create sexual violence report

Ohio State University’s Undergraduate Student Government in March released the “Sexual Violence Task Force Report” to bring awareness to the issue of sexual violence on campus and across the country.

The report focused on three areas: sexual violence on campus, the university’s response to incidents and action steps. Following a survey of more than 630 students, 61 percent said they heard about assaults on campus by word of mouth or from friends at least monthly if not more often. The survey revealed that 95 percent of students who answered that they were victims of sexual violence never filed formal reports about the incidents.

Sixty percent of the students said they would be fine with using the university’s counseling and consultation services following an assault.

However, anecdotal evidence showed that factors such as long wait times to see Ohio State University Counseling and Consultation Service staff are discouraging to some students, the report said.

The university has existing initiatives to address sexual violence, such as “It’s On Us,” a campus-wide public awareness campaign. The report also suggests a university affirmative consent policy to clearly define what consent is and creating a special center on campus to educate students and staff about sexual violence and offer emotional support to victims.

To read the report, visit [bit.ly/OSUreport](http://bit.ly/OSUreport).

*   Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association