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By Fred Guarino

The Lowndes Signal

Ginny Langham, DNP, MSN, RN, assistant professor at the Auburn University Montgomery School of Nursing and Dr. Jean Leuner, Ph.D., RN, CNE, FAAN, dean of the AUM College of Nursing, presented some exciting news to the Lowndes County Board of Education at its meeting held at Lowndes County Middle School in Fort Deposit, last Thursday night, Jan. 12.

Not only did the two report on the AUM Health Kids outreach screenings at Lowndes County Public Schools, but they reported that the outreach in Lowndes County is featured in an American Association of Colleges of Nursing video.

Langham told the board that last spring AUM students screened 618 Lowndes County public school students in three days. “And of those, 58 percent of those children had something worth referring… some sort of abnormality or something that needed a little bit to be followed up on,” she said.

Langham said some of the referrals were vision, dental, hearing and many just had some abnormal vital signs, their heart rate or blood pressure was just too high.

She told the board, “What we do is a valuable experience not only for you but for our students as well.”

Langham said we have totally enjoyed and hope to continue our relationship with Lowndes County.

But more than that Dr. Leuner reported that the American Association of Colleges of Nursing commissioned a video to show case the AUM College of Nursing, the outreach it does that most schools don’t do, including the Healthy Kids outreach with Lowndes County Public Schools.

She said, “We are now on display on the AACN website… and it plays at every national meeting.”

While the video highlights a number of AUM’s outreaches, Langham said the Healthy Kids one in Lowndes County is the best and one of the students interviewed, Iesha Coleman is from Lowndes County.

Also included in the video are comments for Lowndes County School Superintendent Dr. Daniel Boyd and Jackson-Steele Elementary School Principal Bessie Morgan.

In the video, Morgan said, “For us, it is a form of early intervention. The quicker that issues are identified and (we) are able to get those under control, it helps the child overall in their performance in the classroom.”

Also in the video Langham, who teaches community and public health, said, “It gives them (her students) hands on experience to see a venerable population of not only school children in a rural area who have very little in the way of socio-economic resources but also healthcare resources as well. I believe that service learning is a big part of being a nurse.”