Service-Learning through Community-Focused Nursing

My name is Krista and I have worked in the Service-Learning Center this past year as an ABS-L Coordinator for the Spanish Department. In my nursing and Spanish classes I have been able to see how service-learning can help me apply knowledge and skills outside of the classroom.  

Compassion is crucial for all areas of nursing, but in the community setting, nurses may be even more out of their comfort zones and thus need to bring in more focused care. As I am in my final semester of nursing at Calvin, I am completing my community-focused nursing clinical rotation. While in the past we have worked with the individual in a more community-based nursing, we are now looking at the big picture of the whole neighborhood as our client. I am learning the great need to patiently listen to the needs of the community, without carrying in my own assumptions of what those needs might be. I am learning to recognize what resources and assets the community has so that I can best focus on how to educate my clients and teach them to educate each other about resources that address their health concerns. Though time is limited when working with clients, I appreciate when I can sit and listen and actually offer more direct care. Nursing feels more comfortable and worthwhile to me when I can work in the communities that are often overlooked. However, I must remember to go beyond the feel-good concept of “helping others” but instead form more of a partnership with the agencies and resources that already exist in the community, working side-by side with them. Humility is incredibly essential in this line of work, as community health nurses advocate for the individuals who live in the communities. Nurses do not understand everything about the lives of our clients, but we must learn to accept what we do not know and to trust in God to guide us through humble and patient open hearts.