Students from the College of Health Sciences and Professions are getting involved on campus and in the Athens community through volunteer work that will help them in their classes.
Kevin Davis, director of community engagement for the college, has put together volunteer opportunities for students that now play a vital role in their class work through partnerships with volunteer organizations in Athens and other Ohio counties.
“The work that Kevin is doing with the underserved has the potential to expand to all programs within the college,” said Randy Leite, dean of the college.
One of these partnerships is with the Athens County Child Advocacy Center. The center provides care for children who have been sexually abused, Davis said.
Students in the child and family studies program will have the chance to volunteer at the center and observe it from an administrative perspective, Davis said.
An agreement between the college and advocacy center was signed Jan. 1, meaning students will begin volunteering in several weeks.
“This type of volunteer experience will help students transition from classwork into a career,” Davis said.
Currently the projects are funded through the college.
Leite said that he does not want to see a single student graduate from the college without working with the underserved.
Davis is also working on a partnership with the Washington County Free Clinic, a health clinic that provides free services to people living in Washington County without health insurance.
“Many people today do not have health care and our students need to understand the situations that these underserved people are in,” Leite said.
Nursing students, who are licensed nurses, would have the opportunity to volunteer at the clinic two nights a month, Davis said.
No official partnership has been formed yet and Davis is still working out the details, but he hopes to have students volunteering at the Washington health clinic sometime this semester.
“We are trying to add more service learning components to our classes,” Davis said. “Getting students involved is part of our mission statement and it is very important to us.”
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