The Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Nursing’s (SON) WE CARE Clinic in East St. Louis displayed its new mobile health unit during a recent health fair.
The Clinic teamed with Kappa Alpha Psi, East St. Louis Alumni to present its first joint health fair on Saturday, March 9 on the Wyvetter H. Younge Higher Education Campus in East St. Louis. More than 30 vendors from the Greater St. Louis and Metro East areas took part in the event. On-site physician counseling was available at the health fair.
“The mission of the WE CARE Clinic is to advance health equity through access to care, patient-provider concordance and student readiness to practice,” said Jerrica Ampadu, PhD, RN, CCP, associate professor in the SON and Clinic director.
Russell McElveen, DO, cardiac surgeon with Southern Illinois Health in Belleville and member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., said “We know that lack of resources and ability to pay for medical care affects a lot of minority patients. We want to help. We want to increase awareness of healthcare services available in the area, including the SIUE WE CARE Clinic in East St. Louis.”
Many people are aware about the opioid epidemic, but not how they can help, according to Violette Book, community health specialist with Overdose Education and Nalaxone Distribution in Granite City and Belleville. Among Book’s supplies and literature were free kits of Narcan.
“Using Narcan can help reverse an opioid overdose,” said Book. “It’s nasal spray for the nose. What you’re trying to do is to help someone start breathing again and keep them alive until emergency help can get there. I made 50 kits, and I’ve gone through about 35 in the first hour. But I have supplies to make more. I’ll just keep making the kits until I run out.”
