Six students organized a range of health and wellness programming for the fair, which drew numerous clients they’ve come to know well during weekly visits, said faculty lead Valerie Wyzykowski.

Student poster presentations, games and giveaways, combined with visiting community resource representatives, helped to raise awareness and educate attendees on health and wellness. Visiting representatives included the Agency on Aging of South Central Connecticut and Oak Street Health, an area primary care clinic.

In addition, Samantha Payson ’25 arranged for a van visit from Change the Script, a program of DrugFreeCT.org. Change the Script is a statewide campaign dedicated to rewriting the narrative on prescription drug misuse and providing overdose prevention education.

“Three of our topics for our health fair were home safety, medication destruction and social engagement,” said Payson. “Along with the medication destruction piece, we wanted to offer more resources for residents in this building. Besides us coming each week, they don’t really have a lot of medical attention in the building, unless they have their own home health care aids or anyone else that may come in through their insurance. Change the Script is a free resource that provides materials for medication destruction, items like medication lockboxes and they also offer Narcan training.”

During their clinical visits, the nursing students also helped residents complete a medication reconciliation form to inventory the medications in their home.

“They can bring the form to future appointments, and it will help them with communication with their provider, to get back on track with their medications and to answer any questions they may have," said Payson.

The School of Nursing established the clinic program at New Haven’s Monterey Place, an affordable senior housing facility, nearly four years ago. A growing number of the facility’s 45 residents are participating, said Wyzykowski.

“Every clinical day, they learn a new health topic and the students also keep them socialized and moving. They really build a relationship,” said Wyzykowski. “For the students, it’s the only opportunity they get in a clinical where they can see the same person over and over again. The students are able to really help them understand how preventative care can help keep them out of the hospital.”

Rory Flynn ’25 said she’s enjoyed connecting with the residents.

“My favorite part of this has been getting to know them, getting to know their health and engaging them in the social part of this,” said Flynn. “Although they may have thought they were playing Bingo with us every week, we would really teach them a lot about health and prevention."

The students also gain critical perspectives on client issues creating health and wellness barriers, such as limited income or lack of transportation and how to help their clients overcome those barriers to receive needed care and resources.

For the Health Fair, Shelby Campana ’25 and Rani Roderick ’25 developed a poster presentation to help bring home the importance of social engagement to their clients.

“A lot of them do not feel the need to get out and to socialize with the people around them, but it’s very important for this population," said Campana. "Social engagement not only positively affects their physical health but their mental health, as well." 

“The activities they engage in with us, even if it’s just finding a number for Bingo, helps to improve their cognitive abilities and lowers declines such as confusion, which partially can be due to a decline in social engagement,” said Roderick.

Resident Naomi Tisdale said she’s enjoyed interacting with all of the Quinnipiac nursing students she’s met during clinical visits through the years.

“For some of the residents, this is the only program that gets them out of the house and involved in learning about their health, what they should be eating, how they should be exercising," said Tisdale. "They ask a lot of medical questions and the students are just wonderful and helpful. It really is a good program." 

Sydney Aviles ’25 and Olivia Kimball ’25 said their experience at this clinical site has been gratifying.

“Being involved and interacting with the residents is awesome," said Kimball. "We really get to know them and to teach them."