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Senior nursing students in assistant professor Charlene Moske-Weber’s seven-week clinical course in public health nursing have taken their wellness message to the streets, in a manner of speaking. Some have been working in schools, while others have been visiting local YMCAs to explain the benefits of good nutrition, provide holiday health management tips, discuss signs of stress and how to handle them, take visitors’ blood pressure, and answer questions. At the Salem Y recently, the Salem State nursing students also spoke to five-year-olds in the early learning center about nutrition.

Moske-Weber, who teaches public health nursing, believes that the clinical aspect of her course allows her students to be creative and explore various areas of nursing they might like.

“The majority of nursing courses,” she says, “don't allow students to see how nursing can impact the local community outside of a hospital setting. Public health initiatives such as this collaboration between Salem State and the North Shore YMCAs allow students to deliver health promotion in creative and dynamic ways." The clinical, on the other hand, encourages students to analyze relationships while providing health education and nursing care to individuals, families, communities, and various other populations through their placements.

The new collaborations with regional YMCAs and other public venues are the brainchild of Moske-Weber, and are an outgrowth of her students’ initial visit to the Ipswich YMCA. They now have a number of such visits on their agendas, including one on November 12 to the Salem Y; one the following week in Beverly, and then back again to Ipswich.

Although the travel is time consuming—especially when added to their heavy class schedule and often significant commutes for those who live off campus—students recognize the value. Megan Rauseo of Georgetown, for instance, spends five hours each week in her public health nursing class, 15 hours in her clinical placement, time in her other classes, and many hours on the road traveling to and from various destinations.

According to Charlene Moske-Weber, however, “Communities are where contemporary health care is now,” so it’s important that her students are exposed to it.