Welcome!

Welcome to our blog! We are a group of six graduate nursing students from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire who are planning on traveling to Washington D.C. in March to immerse ourselves in the homeless population of D.C. This trip is part of a domestic intercultural immersion grant and will be guided by our instructor, Lee-Ellen Kirkhorn for our family nursing class (clinical portion).

We will be working (and staying!) at the Steinbruck Center for Urban Studies which is a guest hostel of the Luther Place Memorial Church in Washington D.C. We will be providing care at several agencies serving the homeless including Unity Healthcare for the Homeless, Martha's Table, Capital Area Foodbank, Thrive DC, and the N Street Village, diverse shelters and services for homeless women managed by the church. We are also planning to work closely with education and advocacy for the women of N Street Village by conducting a blood pressure clinic and performing health education about obesity and diabetes.

Here is the link for more information: http://www.lutherplace.org/steinbruckcenter/index.html

We are currently collecting donations for items needed in D.C.: reusable bags, notebooks, journals, and tablecloths (no cloth). If you are reading this and would like to donate, please contact us via our blog or email: hayeskel@uwec.edu And a big thank you to those who have donated already! We will have a photo of our donated items coming soon...

We have many people to thank for this great opportunity. We would like to thank our instructor, Lee-Ellen, as she applied for and received the grant that will fund this immersion. We also would like to thank Jodi Thesing-Ritter, the Associate Dean of Students, who conceptualized the idea of funding domestic intercultural immersion projects. Our UW-Eau Claire Foundation who raised the funds for these grants, and the office of Interim Associate Vice Chancellor, Dr. Susan Turell who helped with staffing and facilitation. Our instructor has also received great support from our department chair, Dr Rose Jadack, and from our dean, Dr. Mary Zwygart-Stauffacher.

We will continue to post blogs from each of the students as the immersion nears closer. We have many feelings of excitement, fear, and curiosity. And again, welcome to our blog. Enjoy!