Team Prepare at Campbell University CPHS

As the semester comes to a close, Team Prepare’s work in the community is just about finished.  We have accomplished so much over the past several weeks and I know we have made an impression on community members in Harnett County.  From directing and editing our own volunteer recruitment video for the Buies Creek Fire Department to planning and coordinating two events at the Harnett County Library to demonstrate hands-only CPR lessons, our project have touched many lives.  One of the most exciting things about our work this semester is that it will hopefully continue on with future Team Prepare’s.  The leg work for Buies Creek’s Fire Academy has been completed this semester, but now the recruitment video needs to be advertised and the first Fire Academy classes will be held.  We also wish for the future Team Prepare to continue our vaccination awareness campaign and stay in touch with Agape Pregnancy Support to counsel expecting mothers on where to receive necessary and essential vaccinations for their newborns.

We wrapped up our vaccine deliverable with a plan of action for the next Team Prepare to continue our public campaign.  Throughout the semester we spoke to a variety of health care providers including OB offices, pediatricians, and pregnancy support services.  From this research, we found that a large majority of parents in Harnett County who took their children to pediatricians wanted to vaccinate their children.  Our discussions with parents at our library events confirmed this.  It turns out that most parents understood the importance of vaccines and did not have misinformed personal beliefs about immunizations as we had originally thought might be the case.  However, our interview with the ladies at Agape Pregnancy Support in Fayetteville revealed an interesting and very real barrier for parents.  Most mothers with young children and infants do want to their children to be vaccinated, but have trouble finding available options and locations for these vaccines.  A lot of parents believe that they must make an appointment with a pediatrician to get their children vaccinated, and have trouble finding time in their busy schedules to take off of work and find transportation to the office at the time of the appointment.  These barriers are especially heightened in rural areas like Harnett County where economic instability and longer travel distances do not easily allow parents to get their child to a pediatrician for every vaccination shot according to the recommended vaccination schedule.  Agape Pregnancy Support also mentioned that family and custody issues played a major role in blocking accessibility to vaccinations.  Grandparents who may take over custody of small children may be unaware of what vaccines are still needed or may already have their own beliefs about vaccinations that are set in stone over the course of their lifetime.  

After hearing similar facts and stories from each health care provider, we wanted to directly address the barrier of awareness to available options for vaccinations.  Particularly in rural areas where there aren’t many pediatric offices to begin with, we wanted to let the public know that there are other locations and options available.  For example, the Harnett County Health Department has an immunization clinic to help anyone get the NC state required vaccinations.  Additionally, these immunizations come at no cost to children under 18 years who have public insurance or are not insured at all.  This is a convenient and cost-effective option that many parents in Harnett County may simply be completely unaware of.  Our plan for the future is to provide Agape Pregnancy Support and other maternal care services with infographics and videos to work with health care providers to counsel expecting mothers on their options for infant immunizations.  With this information at hand, the barrier to access vaccines will be minimized for these mothers.  

Similar to our vaccine deliverable, a major barrier across our CPR and firefighter volunteer recruitment projects is the fact that many people in rural areas are largely unaware of what they can do to help themselves and their community.  Getting the word out about the essential life-saving skill of CPR and the great community need for volunteer firefighters has been our main focus throughout the semester.  Our CPR events offered a small taste of the importance of knowing hands-only CPR for an emergency cardiac situation that will encourage the public to learn more about what they can do and what CPR training they can receive in the area.  Our recruitment video reminds the community of why we need volunteer firefighters and how anyone can help out at the fire department in a variety of ways.  Overall, our three main projects as Team Prepare have made people in Harnett County more aware of what they can do to create a healthy and safe community.

Last week, Team Prepare planned and operated a table at the Block Party for Sexual Assault Awareness Week at Campbell University! Our objectives were to raise awareness about sexually transmitted infections that are vaccine-protected as well as provide a demonstration of hands-only CPR.  Our table included a poster-board and flyers with information about the symptoms and complications of vaccine-protected STI’s and resources to receive these vaccines or get tested for STI’s.  For the CPR demonstration, we played fun, modern music with the correct tempo for hands-only CPR so students could remember the correct rate of 100 to 120 compressions per minute.

As the first public event Team Prepare has attended, we were proud of our impact and interactions at the SAAW event.  By the end of the event, we had taught hands-only CPR and spoke about vaccine-preventable STI’s to almost 200 students.  To my surprise and delight, we found that a good number of students had already received some training in CPR and that even more knew that they hd received most or all of the vaccines for the STI’s we were talking about.  It was great to see people refresh their memories on CPR.  It was also great to start a conversation with students who may not know their own vaccine status.  Getting into a deep conversation about STI-status with a stranger in a public at school can be uncomfortable, but Team Prepare has at least gotten students to take a few minutes to think about their health and specifically how they can easily protect themselves.

Since Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, and HPV are the only sexually-transmissible disease that can be vaccinated against, we chose to focus on the vaccines at the SAAW event.  In the case of sexual assault, where you may not know the status of a person you have had sexual contact with, it is important to at least know with confidence that you are protected from these diseases.  Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B can lead to serious liver failure if left untreated.  HPV can develop into cervical cancer and genital warts.  It is much easier to get vaccinated than to live with these complication later on.

In particular, Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B viral infections are more prevalent in rural areas.  Given the opioid crisis after affecting many rural areas in the US, the sharing of needles leads to higher rates of new Hepatitis B virus infections in adults without vaccination coverage.  Higher rates of Hepatitis A virus infection can be attributed to poorer rural regions with a lack of safe food and water or poor sanitation.  Individuals in rural areas with more chance of contact to these viruses, including HPV, can be much better protected by receiving vaccinations as early as possible.

Team Prepare’s flyers, which were handed out to close to 200 students on campus, also provided information on location that would provide Hep A, Hep B, and HPV vaccinations in Harnett County, such a CVS Minute Clinics and the Harnett County Health Department, as it is important to know your sexual health status regardless of your vaccination record.  Although sexual health counseling can be awkward and difficult to do in the few minutes we had with each student in Academic Circle, starting the conversation on STI vaccination awareness is one of the first steps towards raising vaccination rates in the local community.

Team Prepare also had great success in teaching hands-only CPR to students.  A person does NOT have to be a professionally-trained EMT to save a life in an emergency situation.  If we could get even one student to remember the beat to a catchy song when pushing on the chest of a person in cardiac arrest until paramedics arrive, then we know that we have helped save one life. Our team plans on continuing to bring manikins to local events for CPR demonstrations to reach even more members of the community.  In addition, repeated practice will increase how much people are comfortable people become with CPR and allow them to take control in an emergency situation until professional help can arrive.  This is especially important in rural areas where it may take longer for help to arrive due to greater geographical distances in rural communities.  Our next CPR demonstration will be at the Harnett County Library on October 19 and will be geared more towards families with young children.

So far this semester, Team PREPARE has shown a level of dedication and diligence that I am proud to be a part of.  Our team, with the guidance of David Hesselmeye of On Target Preparedness, has been busy with a variety of deliverables that will impact many different parts of our community here in Harnett County as well as beyond.  Coming up with ideas to achieve our goals of helping the public has proven to only be a small part of the battle.  Taking action, connecting with community members, and getting the attention of a large audience has been difficult at times, but this is what public health is all about.  It hasn’t been easy to figure out exactly how to design a campaign to not only reach a targeted audience but also make a long-lasting beneficial impact, but my experiences so far have inspired me to pursue future leadership roles where I may have more resources directly at my disposal.

My team has been working tirelessly on deliverables to recruit more volunteer firefighters, promote mental health outreach programs for first responders, educate families on base but life-saving CPR methods, counsel expecting and new mothers on healthy infant immunization schedules, and prepare the public in general for emergencies and disasters.  As you can see, Team PREPARE has been extremely busy these past weeks.  I have focused most of my personal efforts so far on increasing vaccination rates to protect children against easily preventable diseases.

Vaccination rates in rural areas are typically much lower than rates in urban areas.  This disparity can be directly related to health care barriers that are unique to rural areas: lack of education and low accessibility.  Many parents either have false information regarding vaccines or no information at all.  Low accessibility to pediatricians in rural areas can also negatively affect vaccination rates.  Low infant immunization rates for devastating diseases such as measles, mumps, polio, pertussis, pneumococcus, and rubella (just to name a few) affects not only the individual child but the community as a whole as well.  As more and more people are not vaccinated, the effectiveness of her immunity for the entire community will be dramatically reduced.  Nearly eradicated detrimental diseases like polio could make a comeback.  Herd immunity protects children and adults who cannot receive vaccinations because of rare medical conditions, but they can still be protected from preventable diseases if every other healthy child in the community receives these important vaccinations.  That is why it is of the utmost importance to counsel and educate expecting and new mothers on the CDC-recommended infant immunization schedule.  Mothers play a key role in protecting their families and their entire community, and rural areas will soon be able to reach healthy vaccination rates.

To address this problem, Team PREPARE has reached out to local pediatricians to discuss revamping the birth plan set in place to prepare expecting mothers for the day of delivery.  The birth plan is created in advance to help make sure all aspects of the birth process are handled according to the mother’s preferences.  Our hope is to encourage and help plan a consultation on vaccinations between the pediatrician and the expecting mother ahead of the expected date of birth.  It is essential to discuss and educate mothers on the benefits and delivery of immunizations beforehand so they don’t feel pressured right after giving birth to make a decision about an important health impact they may have known nothing about.  Right after birth, a newborn should be given the first Hep B shot.  If a mother has had no previous education on what this vaccination is, she may be more likely to refuse this invasive procedure for her newborn.  By implementing vaccination counseling in the initial discussions of each mother’s birth plan, more mothers will feel knowledgeable and comfortable to ensure their children are vaccinated appropriately.  It is exciting to be influential in the beginnings of a change that will benefit and entire community down the line!

Team Prepare at one of our weekly meetings with our preceptor, David of On Target Preparedness!

Our First Meeting as Team Prepare!!