Discipline: Community Health Nursing

Type of Presentation: Talking poster presentation

Subtheme: Interprofessional and intersectoral partnerships

Community Health Nursing Education That Warms People and Campus-Community-
Volunteer Partnerships

The need for extra emergency shelter space throughout the winter to protect the most vulnerable
members of the Peterborough, Ontario community was identified several years ago and has only
become more urgent. The Warming Room is a completely volunteer staffed overnight
emergency shelter started by local poverty activists and executed through inter-sectoral and inter-
organizational partnerships. To advance community health nursing practice education two
nursing students completed a project-based 180 hour community health practice placement that
turned out to be fundamental to the realization of The Warming Room. The students focus was
to recruit, train and support the over 100 volunteers as well as work to build and maintain the
many partnerships that were crucial to this project. The stakeholders were varied and diverse
and included faith communities, non-profit organizations, municipal government, post-secondary
institutions, end-users and volunteers from a huge variety of backgrounds and experiences.
Volunteers included seasoned poverty activists, members and leaders of churches, community
members ranging in age from 18 to 90 and post-secondary students from a variety of programs
with a high representation from nursing programs. Some students received an entry on their co-
curricular record for participating or used the volunteer hours to count toward other achievement
programs. The opportunity for volunteers from a variety of backgrounds to work closely
together while getting real experience interacting with homeless and street involved adults makes
this project particularly special. This collaborative partnership advances community health
nursing education by helping developing nurses to better understand the challenges of health care
system reform, by tapping into the vast array of experience and skill held by community
members and clients and by giving both volunteer and placement students the opportunity to
experience mobilizing diverse groups to work toward common goals.


Biographies

Rebecca Butler, BScN (c) MPlan, BA (Hon) is in the final year of the compressed
Trent/Fleming BScN program. Her previous education includes degrees in International
Development, Cultural Studies, and a Masters in Planning with a focus in community
development. She has worked as an outreach worker, volunteer coordinator, and program
coordinator with many vulnerable populations including homeless and street involved youth.
She was assigned to The Warming Room for her Community Health Nursing clinical placement
and was later hired as the volunteer coordinator for the project.

Chris Blencoe, BscN(c) Bsc (Hon) His involvement with The Warming Room was initiated
through a short term Community Health Nursing clinical placement and has evolved into a
volunteer role. His education background includes degrees in Genetics, and Physiology from The
University of Western Ontario. He is currently working toward a BscN at Trent University.



Ann MacLeod, MPH, BscN, RN Her nursing practice in adolescent and pediatric tertiary,
residential camp and home-based settings in both urban and rural areas in Canada, New Zealand
and the U.S. spurred her interest in health promotion and community based research where she
worked for 15 years in Ontario in public health, Healthy Communities and primary care research.
She has taught at University of Michigan, Lake Superior State University and in the
Trent/Fleming School of Nursing since its inception in 2001. Her research area is in the
volunteer interface with nurses and the third sector supporting older adults to age in place.