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Home > Archive > Mar 29, 2007

DSC Student Nurses Learn from DOVE Center
By Katrice Schimbeck
Staff Writer
Student nurses are trying to make something positive come from a difficult situation.
Nursing students at Dixie State College (DSC) need to fulfill a requirement of 16 hours spent with pediatric patients. Fortunately, there aren’t enough children in Dixie Regional Hospital to fill the requirement for all the nursing students. So in the fall, nursing instructor Kristy Baron approached the DOVE Center to initiate a volunteer program there. The center was happy to have the nursing students come.
“We meet their needs and they meet ours,” Baron said.
Four DSC nursing students volunteer four times within a two-week period at the center. The task then rotates to the next group scheduled. This fulfills eight of those required hours in the community. The other hours are spent in pediatric offices and the hospital pediatric ward. 
The DOVE Center provides temporary shelter, basic needs and support to victims of domestic violence, rape, and sexual assault, helping get people back on their feet. The DOVE Center is a group home, and the residents become good friends. Mothers fix dinner together, and children play together.
DOVE is an acronym for Discovering Opportunities Via Escape. Two programs offered for discovering are a parenting class every Wednesday and a support group every Thursday. DSC nursing students volunteer during this time to occupy the children and allow for an undisturbed meeting for parents. The nursing students gain experience interacting with children. They are required to plan games and activities for the children that always include a health lesson. They teach them about brushing teeth, washing hands, eating healthy foods, or even sharing. 
“You grow attached to them when they’re there for a long time,” Baron said. The children range all ages, and because it is a temporary arrangement, there can be a large group or none at all. The nurses must be prepared for every situation. Rarely, when no children are there, they spend their time cleaning the storage room or listening to meetings.”
Some of the children develop normally, but others are withdrawn and delayed because of their experiences. Abuse and stress in a child’s life can cause the child to regress in development.
Talia Howes was in the first group of nursing students to volunteer. She worked in pediatric situations quite a bit before entering the program and saw developmental stages.
“It was interesting to see how the stages get altered,” Howes said.
Another student, Mark Engibous, discussed in a reflective essay what he learned about the social developmental differences between boys ages 6 and 9.
The first group of student nurses to go into the DOVE Center were nervous. They didn’t know about the kids, what type of abuse they had encountered and how they would react to adults they didn’t know.
“It was so much fun. That’s why I want to go into pediatrics,” Candice Martin said.
“They love being loved,” Nicole Kemp said. All four nursing students in the group said they would go again if given the opportunity.
“I was able to overcome my fears of being around ‘little people,’ and found myself enjoying the time that we spent interacting together,” Engibous said.
“(I enjoyed) being able to get down and teach things on their level,” Janel Hall said.
The whole group enjoyed the experience, and two others in the group, Kemp and Howes, are both leaning toward pediatric nursing. The group is just finishing their LPN (Licensed Practical Nurse) this year and will go on to the RN (Registered Nurse) program next year. Kemp wants to become a nurse practitioner.
“We had an impact on them and they had an impact on us,” Howes said.

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