Sara Ohlsson administers a flu shot at a clinic in Burton Heights.

“Since being here in Burton Heights, I can honestly say that I wish someone would ask me what I would change about this world. I can guarantee that my answer now would be different from what I might have said before I arrived here,” wrote Jill Playter, a Calvin junior majoring in nursing. Playter was reflecting on her five-week practicum in the clinics and schools of Burton Heights, where she saw up-close how poverty ravages the health of a community. The responses of Playter’s fellow students were equally heartfelt.

“I saw a lot of diabetes, asthma in children, flus and colds, broken bones and severe depression. What was even more difficult to take in was that none of these people could afford to have these problems,” wrote senior Sara Terpstra.

The nursing department began educating in the Burton Heights neighborhood in 2001 as one of 12 departments working in the Calvin@Burton Heights program — an effort funded by a HUD Community Outreach Partnership Center (COPC) grant. The grant coincided with the dissolution of a 20-year partnership in nursing education between Hope and Calvin colleges, a split that allowed Calvin to completely re-envision its nursing program.

“The really significant thing is that the trend in nursing is moving from hospital based to community based. Our (new) program has more community interaction,” said Renae Boss Potts, assistant nursing professor and Calvin’s health focus coordinator in Burton Heights.

Calvin’s nursing students now spend a five-week practicum in the fall of their junior year and another seven weeks in their senior year working with health providers and schools in the Burton Heights, Baxter and Creston neighborhoods. The students practice a variety of nursing skills including taking vital signs, giving flu shots, and doing blood pressure and blood sugar screenings.

In Burton Heights, students work through the Cherry Street Health Services’ Burton Clinic and Health Intervention Services (HIS), a faith-based clinic. They teach basic health and nutrition classes at Burton Elementary School.

Students at Burton Elementary School learn about the food pyramid with Calvin nursing student Kate Brower.

“I guess the cool thing about the nursing program and the practicum experience is that it’s never the same thing. For example, you might be working at a blood pressure screening clinic and another day you might be working in a school clinic, kind of job-shadowing a doctor at the clinic. Another day you might be working at Health Intervention Services,” said senior Sarah DeKraker. “Another day you might be working at one of the elementary schools, teaching them. We taught the kids about hand-washing and smoking and nutrition. And on another day you might be at a flu shot clinic, giving flu shots.”

Students also teach at Alternative Directions, a residential prison program for non-violent offenders.

A favorite practice for the senior students is the required home visit, during which students answer health-related questions. “Many of the students said that that was more intense than the class they taught because they are seeing people in their homes. In the home, the clients often invited their neighbors and friends to that visit,” said Potts. “The neighbors were so excited. Sometimes there were another 15 people in the house… . I think that we really touched exponential numbers of people. Not every student had that experience, but quite a number reported that they did.”

Other experiences weren’t as pleasant. Many of the students wrote about facing unsuspected ethical dilemmas during their tours of duty. Some of the clinics’ predominantly Hispanic clients are illegal immigrants who present bogus social security numbers, and students wrestled with the idea of whether or not to treat them. Clients who returned to the clinics repeatedly due to self-destructive, addictive behaviors also tested students’ empathy.

“I guess I always thought that most things in life were black and white,” Playter wrote. “I have, however, realized that there are some unavoidable gray areas in life that I have run into.”

And some experiences bonded the students to their clients: “When I begin to take a blood pressure and feel the pulse of the person next to me, I realize they are a unique work of God,” wrote DeKraker.

As seniors, students develop a community health plan, identifying resources in the neighborhoods to deal with five target health issues: asthma, diabetes, hypertension, depression and anxiety. Another concern, said Potts, is the large number of pre-diabetic children in the neighborhoods. “These kids are on my mind and my heart. It’s on my mind for planning what our nursing students are going to do to promote children’s health,” she said. “The nursing department is totally committed, heartfelt committed to staying in the neighborhoods, whether or not we have a grant.”