Community Impact

Nursing students help underserved communities get their kids back-to-school ready

Shayla Brown — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 17:05:19 +0000

Nursing students help underserved communities get their kids back-to-school ready Shayla Brown Wed, 08/14/2024 - 13:05

��ӽ紫ý’s Mason and Partners (MAP) Clinic holds free clinics throughout Northern Virginia every day. This summer, two of those community-based clinics helped local elementary school students get back-to-school ready.

School of Nursing students at the MAP Clinic in the Population Health Center. Photo by Shayla Brown

Managed by practitioners in the College of Public Health, the clinics offer uninsured school-aged children and other underserved communities essential health services. They also allow undergraduate nursing students, including MSN Family Nurse Practitioner and Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) students, as well as graduate psychology, social work, health informatics and administration students among others, to complete Community Health Clinical requirements in a meaningful way.

��ӽ紫ý’s School of Nursing ran the first clinic on June 21, where 38 ABSN and four nurse practitioner students were working, and the second on July 19, where 28 ABSN and three nurse practitioner students were working. In total, 45 families brought their children to receive vaccines and physical examinations.

“The clinics are a different side of nursing. The families are so sweet and grateful for everyone who’s there,” said ABSN student Kaleigh O’Keefe.

The MAP Clinic collaborates with many community partners throughout the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area including Fairfax County Public Schools, Manassas City Public Schools, Manassas Park City Schools, Prince William County Schools, Refugee Resettlement Agencies, Fairfax United Methodist Church, Inova Alexandria Hospital, and non-profits across the region.

School of Nursing faculty providing medical care to a student in the Population Health Center. Photo by Shayla Brown

School nurses, school-parent liaisons, refugee resettlement case managers, and caregivers from these various locations reach out to MAP Clinic administration to schedule appointments for students.

“Many of these families are long-term patients who we’ve been seeing at our MAP Clinics for years now,” said Kenneth Frese, director of clinical operations in the School of Nursing.

The clinics are able to address a variety of communities and health issues such as general health, pediatrics, and substance abuse, said O’Keefe. Nursing students rotate through all of the specialties.

The clinics collaboration with Inova comes in the form of the Inova Cares Clinic for Families, which allows patients that need to be closely monitored to receive care from Inova for a discounted rate based on income.

“I had a patient whose blood pressure was really high, which in children is typically caused by some type of kidney problem, so we tested his urine and there was a high protein count, which can indicate kidney damage,” explained O’Keefe. “We sent him to Inova where he was officially diagnosed, though he still comes back to the MAP Clinic to follow up with us sometimes.”

Nursing students also collaborated with students and faculty from ��ӽ紫ý’s Department of Social Work throughout the MAP clinics.

Amy Joyner with backpacks that were donated to the children at the MAP clinic. Photo by Shayla Brown

“Social work was a big part of the work we were doing. A lot of our job was ––communicating with those students,” Isabelle Kahng, an ABSN student who will be doing a neuro-ICU practicum for the MedStar Health Future Nurse Program partnership.

“It was our responsibility to relay the patient’s information to the provider, as well as the social workers, so that we could work together in getting the resources the patients need,” said Kahng.

“Bonding with these kids is my favorite part,” said O’Keefe. “They’re just so happy to be there, and being there to help them thrive is everything.”

In This Story

Kenneth Frese

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Mason and Partners (MAP)

Mason opens new behavioral health facility in Fairfax

Colleen Rich — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 18:28:23 +0000

Mason opens new behavioral health facility in Fairfax Colleen Rich Fri, 10/27/2023 - 14:28

On Friday, Oct. 27, ��ӽ紫ý’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences and Department of Psychology hosted a grand opening of its new facility for the Center for Community Mental Health and Center for Evidence-Based Behavioral Health, two centers whose research and community services are deeply connected to strengthening our communities.

From left, Keith Renshaw, Fairfax Mayor Catherine Read, center director Robyn Mehlenbeck, and Dean Ann Ardis. Photo by Ron Aira/Office of University Branding

The new City of Fairfax location at 9900 Main Street is optimally located to enable community members’ easy access to critical mental health services, while also providing space to advance research and train the next generation of behavioral health providers.

The Center for Community Mental Health serves as the main training clinic for Mason doctoral candidates in clinical psychology, as well as students in other behavioral health disciplines such as counseling and social work. The center provides state-of-the-art, accessible, affordable, and culturally sensitive therapy and testing services to those in need, regardless of income. It is one of the only sites in the mid-Atlantic to offer therapies and testing on a sliding scale, which enables access to care for as low as $5 per session. The center sees children as young as age 5, and works with community members across the lifespan, including addressing the mental health needs of veterans.

“At the Center for Community Mental Health, we firmly believe that mental health services should be available to everyone, regardless of ability to pay,” said Robyn Mehlenbeck, the center’s director. “We also believe you should receive help when you need it and not be told you’ll need to wait three or four months.”

To meet community need, the center has expanded staffing for its emotional support lines to 12 hours a day every day in both English and Spanish, Mehlenback said. Three session skills treatment plans are also available with little to no waitlist, as a bridge to longer term services, she added.

Last year, the Center for Community Mental Health provided more than 2,100 therapy sessions, completed 118 evaluations and more than 315 evaluation sessions, and helped train 77 undergraduates and 57 graduate students—all with a commitment to the community.

Mason’s Center for Evidence-Based Behavioral Health is committed to decreasing barriers to accessing high-quality mental health care. Serving as a critical bridge between research on the best therapies and real-life applications, it offers training and consultation to the community’s behavioral health workforce in culturally responsive, research-based, behavioral health treatments. The Center for Evidence-Based Behavioral Health has trained approximately 430 clinicians and clinical supervisors, who represent eight local county-based organizations and 38 private behavioral health organizations, over the last year alone.

“The Center for Evidence-Based Behavioral Health brings together Mason faculty, with different areas of expertise, to partner with and train behavioral health providers in research-based therapies,” said Christy Esposito-Smythers, CEBBH Director. “This helps our current workforce address gaps in training, learn new treatment techniques, and further enhance their ability to effectively treat clients with a variety of behavioral health concerns.”

“Mental health and behavioral health are health care. We need to change the conversation to remove both the stigma and the barriers to these critical services,” said City of Fairfax Mayor and Mason alum Catherine Read. “Mason is taking a leadership role in developing a model for quality affordable mental health services while training the next generation of mental health care providers. Fairfax City is the beneficiary of this groundbreaking effort to invest in the holistic well-being of an entire community. We are fortunate in our proximity and partnership with Mason.”

“The behavioral health needs in our community are acute, as are the behavioral health workforce development needs in the region,” said Ann Ardis, College of Humanities and Social Sciences dean. “This new facility will provide Mason faculty and students with a state-of-the-art environment in which to pursue research-to-practice activities in service to our communities.”

The Center for Community Mental Health’s Emotional Help Line provides free, anonymous, confidential support in both English (703-215-1898) and Spanish (703-914-3878). The line is open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.

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Mason and Partner Clinics see 189% increase in appointments since 2018 and delivered $3.8 million in free services to the community

mthomp7 — Wed, 04 Oct 2023 13:14:41 +0000

Mason and Partner Clinics see 189% increase in appointments since 2018 and delivered $3.8 million in free services to the community mthomp7 Wed, 10/04/2023 - 09:14

Rebcca Sutter discusses the opioid services offered at the MAP Clinics with Representative Jennifer Wexton.

Empowered Communities Opioid Partnership extends Mason’s efforts to reduce overdoses for those involved in the criminal justice system

Rebecca Sutter, professor in the School of Nursing and director of the Mason and Partner Clinics also oversees the Empowered Communities Opioid Partnership (ECOP) – a $2.8 million initiative serving five local health districts (Prince William, Chesterfield, Crater, Portsmouth, and Norfolk) with the goal of reducing opioid-related overdose deaths, non-fatal overdoses, and adverse health consequences among those newly released from jail or prison.

“The chance of overdose or relapsing can be up to 129% higher in the two weeks after release, so we are committed to working with partners in the criminal justice and community-based systems of care to connect high-risk individuals quickly and with low barriers to the care they need,” said Sutter. ECOP has screened more than 950 patients to date and is looking at opening a dedicated Center in early 2024.

In This Story

Rebecca Sutter, DNP, APRN, BC-FNP

Mason and Partner Clinics see 189% increase in appointments since 2018 and delivered $3.8 million in free services to the community

Economic downturn and reductions in Medicaid coverage drive demand for free wellness, preventative, and COVID-related services.

For the past five years, the Mason and Partner (MAP) Clinics have filled an important gap in community health services. In close partnership with area health districts and other service providers, the MAP Clinics have responded to community need with increased accessibility, expanded services, and unwavering support.

During the COVID-19 pandemic alone, the nine MAP Clinics delivered more than 58,220 vaccines and 6,650 COVID tests – providing more than $3,800,000 in free services to the community. The pandemic not only increased demand for health care – it raised awareness about the valuable services offered by the MAP Clinics.

MAP Clinic faculty and staff built deep trust and relationships within the communities they serve – which created a natural place to seek care when economic challenges and/or Medicaid reductions adversely affected vulnerable populations. In addition, the MAP Clinics placed a greater emphasis on preventive care and education post-pandemic to help patients manage their health conditions before they become severe.

“To best meet the needs of the community, the MAP Clinics continually seek new collaborations and partnerships with grassroot community organizations and government agencies. With the deepening opioid crisis, we’ve expanded access for those suffering from this horrible disease through expansion of our Medication for Opioid Use clinics and have expanded our network of peer-recovery support specialists to further assist those struggling with addiction,” says Rebecca Sutter, professor in the School of Nursing and director of the Mason and Partner Clinics.