OSTEOPOROSIS AWARENESS:

A SERVICE LEARNING
EXPERIENCE
Nicole Cory, RN
Introduction
My service learning project paired me with the West Michigan Infusion Center
(WMIC), a newer service in the Mason County area. Barbara Berg, CRNA, MSN
oversees the center and has high hopes for the elimination of Osteoporosis in future
generations. We attended two Women’s Health expos in the Mason County area
and educated women and men of all ages. We gave informational brochures on
Calcium and Vitamin D intake, supplementation, screening, disease process, foods
containing Calcium, the benefits of weight-bearing exercise, and the risk factors
associated with Osteoporosis. We received ice cream and milk from local
businesses to give out as an incentive for people who attended our booth. We also
made a trip to a local senior living facility and spent a day educating older women
and men about the disease.
West Michigan Infusion Center

The infusion center provides infusions of medications

used to treat several disorders. The center’s main
focus is on infusions of Reclast for Osteoporosis. The
center also provides Osteoporosis education to
patients at the center, and they also try to reach the
public at several area events in Mason County. The
ultimate goal of this center is to eliminate
Osteoporosis by educating and reaching out to the
community.
OSTEOPOROSIS AWARENESS
This is a picture of some of the visual aids developed and obtained for this project.
The Osteoporosis Foundation provided many pamphlets and guides for our use.
My role as a student
 Develop educational materials and visual aids for health fairs in the
Mason County area.
 Obtain educational materials from the osteoporosis foundation.
 Create a gimmick to attract people to the booth - we provided
Calcium supplements, ice cream, milk, and cheese at the booths that
were donated by area businesses.
 Learn about, and provide education on testing available to detect
Osteopenia before Osteoporosis develops.
 Increase awareness of Osteopenia and ways to prevent the
development of Osteopenia/Osteoporosis through diet, exercise, and
supplementation.
 Reduce the development of osteoporosis by reaching younger women
while bones are still developing.
 Increase men’s knowledge of Osteoporosis because while it is more
likely to strike women, it is not a “woman’s disease”.
Initial Thoughts
 Initially, I believed my Service Learning Project
would be less about learning and more about
educating.
 I thought I would be reinforcing information most
people already had.
 I believed the public would have a good base of
knowledge on this subject with their primary
physician having already volunteered the
information.
 Osteoporosis is a condition that should be
preventable.
Assumptions
 Many people are already aware of the definition
and symptoms of Osteoporosis.
 Education of the public should focus on
reinforcement of information.
 Women already know a lot about the disease.
 Most physicians will take the lead and order bone
density testing at the correct time in a woman’s life.
 Young women do not need to understand
Osteoporosis yet as it is a disorder that mostly
affects older women.
Information Attained
 Nurses have a great responsibility to reach out to
young women and men and educate the public on many
subjects.
 Serving the community through volunteering can teach
nurses ways to educate properly and more effectively.
 Assumptions can limit the effectiveness of any nursing
intervention including education of the patient.
 Osteoporosis is highly preventable with proper
education and evaluation. Not everyone knows that.
 It is important to research and assess the proper target
population for education.
 Volunteering can be personally satisfying and can
connect one more solidly with their community.
Changes to thought Process
 I began to realize the lack of knowledge that people
have. Especially those who do not have a primary
physician.
 Education of younger people is key in promoting
prevention because Osteoporosis can not be cured.
 Educating teaches the educator as well as the audience.
I learned much about Osteoporosis in the thirty hours or
so I committed to this organization.
 People are hungry for information from you, and trust
you to provide non-biased, accurate information.
 Osteoporosis is preventable, but only if people
understand and follow the ways to prevent.
Synthesis
 Service Learning helped me to form solid relationships with other
healthcare professionals and organizations in my community.
 The project made me more aware of the benefits of and the need for
volunteering.
 This experience helped me to understand a disorder that has the potential
to effect most of my patients, friends, and family members and equipped
me with extensive knowledge on the subject.
 Creating the presentation helped me to develop skills by teaching me
about the added benefit of the use of visual aids, along with verbal
instruction and how to develop visual aids that were informative, but not
overwhelming.
 I learned to identify my assumptions about many other subjects by learning
to consider the idea of teaching Osteoporosis awareness to young people
with the hopes of eliminating the disease.
 Working with Barbara Berg, a Master’s prepared nurse, helped me to look
deeper into the research, ideas, and concepts regarding Osteoporosis, and
decipher resources that met our specific needs
BSN Outcomes
 Assume collaborative leadership roles in the provision, delegation and
supervision of nursing care while retaining accountability for the quality of
that care. (nursing role development)
 Integrate theory and evidence-based knowledge from the arts, humanities,
sciences and nursing to develop a foundation for practice. (theory &
evidence base for practice)
 Coordinate the health care of diverse populations across the lifespan
toward achieving the goal of healthy individuals, families, groups and
communities at the local and global levels. (Context for nursing care)
 Analyze research for application to nursing practice. (Research)
 Demonstrate critical thinking and ethical clinical judgment in the application
of the nursing process, reflecting a safe standard of care. (Cognitive
growth)
 Demonstrate a commitment to the advancement of the image of the nursing
profession through participation in a service learning project. (Advancement
of the profession)