Students from the NSU Fort Myers Student Educational Center held a community health fair on Sunday, November 6, 2011. The fair was a part of the Physician Assistant Student Society’s Project S.E.E.D. (Serving Everyone, Embracing Diversity) and gave the students an opportunity to partner with local and national organizations, such as the Physician Assistants for Latino Health (PALH), to provide invaluable health care service to an underserved population.
More than 300 residents of Immokalee, Florida and its surrounding areas were invited to Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, where they received hypertension and diabetes pre-screenings as well as guides easy and affordable nutrition options. The population in this area is also heavily made up of migrant farm worker who often suffer from serious facial and eye injuries. Project S.E.E.D. worked to secure funding to provide protective eyewear from Sweet Shades. The adults were not the only ones to benefit from the event as participants were able to bring their children in to enjoy a variety of prizes, including 13 bicycles and gift cards, and face painting.
The event was covered in the local Spanish language media and students from the Fort Myers nursing program were also on hand to assist with translation in Spanish and Creole.
For more information, or to donate to the various service initiatives, visit http://theprojectseed.org/ or contact Tom Everts at te135@nova.edu.
Great event, great turnout, great support from Nova, can’t wait to see Project SEED grow even bigger next year!
Excellent work folks! Way to represent NSU in Southwest Florida and help out in the community.