N479 Professional Activity Evaluation Form

Your Name: Jesse Smith Date of Activity:4/3/20 4/4/20 Faculty name: Colleen Reed

Describe the community service/professional activity/s you attended or participated with

(be specific about the purpose and your role):

I attended the AZ AHEC Interprofessional Rural Health Conference. The purpose of this

event was education about ongoing health issues in among multiple populations in Arizona, with

a particular focus on the economically disadvantaged and rural populations. Topics covered

included the ongoing CoVID-19 epidemic and its impact on the community, Self-care for stress

management, Cultural humility, Youth Homelessness, Food Insecurity, Best-practice for Home

Telehealth, the Opioid epidemic (as experienced in Nogales) and more. My role in the activity

was merely as an observer, as it was an educational conference, in which multiple panelists

presented information on their respective fields.

Where was this held and what was was program/activity length?

This program was held online via Zoom over the course of two days for a total of ten

hours (8:00-12:40 & 8:00-13:30).

Discuss the value of this experience to you (be specific).

This experience was valuable in a number of different ways. It covered a wide scope of

health issues facing our community here in Tucson as well as across Arizona. It highlighted the

complex ways in which the COVID-19 epidemic is interacting with existing Health issues (such

as the effect of panic-buying on families which rely upon the availability of WIC approved

goods to make ends meet). As well as practical things to be cognizant of while using Telehealth,

especially during this epidemic, remaining cognizant of privacy, testing the hardware and
software before meetings, and some of its limitations. The existence and limitations of programs

which assist homeless and unaccompanied youth were also explored, providing a greater insight

into a population I don’t have much experience with. It hadn’t occurred to me the difficulties a

child leaving the foster service may face at 18, no longer supported by the government and

without familial support. I don’t know where I would be now without that support. Overall the

conference seemed like an excellent summation of many of the things we have discussed in

Community Health, and in other courses in the Nursing program, and gave me a much better

picture of the issues facing Arizona as a whole.

How would you continue to use this experience throughout your nursing career?

This conference really touched on concepts that effect every level of care. Food

insecurity as we learned, does not just represent a nutritional barrier, it may impact compliance

with other aspects of care should an individual need choose between prescription medications

and food or food and transport. Entering the workforce at this time it is also important to be

aware of COVID-19 and its impact on healthcare, the community and ourselves, as well as use

that information to inform our choices and actions during the next epidemic or emergency as Dr.

Carmona pointed out.

Would you recommend this specific communnity/professional experience in the future;

why or why not? (Describe)

I would recommend this experience in the future, as it really did cover a lot of

information. Some opportunities seem limited in use, but this covers almost all aspects of care.

Brochure or proof of attendance obtained if applicable? Yes Signature on validation of

clinical hours form obtained? N/A