HU Nursing Students and Faculty Study Overseas

Hampton, VA - On Jan. 20, four HU students and one faculty member will be studying gerontology overseas. Hampton resident, Shannon Bellamy, Williamsburg native, Tiffany Reichl and assistant professor Gwendolyn Brown will take off to the University of Kalmar, Sweden, while Martina Rawlings, from Franklin, Va., and Fawn Brown, from Annapolis, Md., will be on their way to the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland. The four nursing students were selected to spend eight weeks abroad to take nursing courses comparable to those offered at HU. They are participating in the AGE: NICE (Advancing Gerontologic Education: Nursing through International Collaborative Endeavors) international project.

AGE: NICE is a three-year grant program funded by the US Department of Education. The $200,000 grant funded project began September 2002. Each year nursing students conduct research and explore the cultural differences in gerontology treatment and care.

"The students share the results of the project and publish articles together to show how schools from different areas can come together,” said, Dr. Constance Smith Hendricks, dean and associate professor of the School of Nursing. “We are promoting cultural understanding, as well as promoting commonalties in geriatric care."

According to the U.S. Census of Population and Housing, 2000, 10.3% of Hampton Roads’ population is over the age of 65. With the aging baby boomers, more health care practitioners will be needed to care for the elderly. HU is stepping up to the challenge and making sure that students are well prepared and equipped with well rounded knowledge of geriatric care.

As a professor, Brown will be going to Sweden to share American practices and presenting serious health issues in the US including childhood obesity with the emphasis on cardiovascular disease and diabetes among African Americans.

HU will also serve as the host for four International nursing visitors. One nursing faculty member, Eva Gustafson and two students, Emma Jiveland and Therese Torstensson, from the University of Kalmar, Sweden, and Riccarda Cattapan, from University of Padua, Italy will be a part of HU’s community for eight weeks beginning on Jan. 20. They will attend nursing classes and clinical sites to learn more about care of the aging population in the United States.

For more information, please contact Dr. Constance Hendricks, dean and associate professor of the School of Nursing, at (757)-727-5654 or via e-mail at constance.hendricks@hamptonu.edu.