Nursing students help Miami-Dade teens improve their health and wellness


By Susan Feinberg

Recent budget cuts and teacher shortages in Miami-Dade County have forced drastic cutbacks in high school health curricula, leaving many teens at risk for problems such as alcohol, drug addiction, AIDS, teen pregnancy and suicide with little or no health education.

Founder & Executive Director of HIP Risa Berrin; FIU nursing student Leriche Louis; FIU nursing student Oscar Ravelo;North Miami Beach High School Peer Health Educator Geneviere Stanley; FIU nursing student Jean Pierre; FIU nursing student Alexander Sanjenis; FIU nursing student Leopoldine Gayap; FIU nursing student Julieth Ortiz; North Miami Beach High School Peer Health Educator Natally Martinez

Founder and Executive Director of HIP Risa Berrin; FIU nursing student Leriche Louis; FIU nursing student Oscar Ravelo; North Miami Beach High School Peer Health Educator Geneviere Stanley; FIU nursing student Jean Pierre; FIU nursing student Alexander Sanjenis; FIU nursing student Leopoldine Gayap; FIU nursing student Julieth Ortiz; North Miami Beach High School Peer Health Educator Natally Martinez

Thirty undergraduate nursing students at the FIU College of Nursing and Health Sciences are addressing this problem and helping teens at North Miami Beach High School and Miami Palmetto High School lead healthier lives by participating in the Health Information Project (HIP).

Launched in Sept., HIP provides 1,500 ninth-graders with relevant, practical health information in an engaging way that empowers them to make educated decisions about their bodies. The program relies on a peer education system. High school juniors and seniors educate freshmen on how to maintain health and wellness.

FIU nursing students in the Foreign M.D. to R.N. program at the Biscayne Bay Campus and Community Health Nursing senior students at the Modesto A. Maidique Campus are working closely with peer educators, evaluating and improving their teaching and helping them to troubleshoot problems they encounter.

“HIP gives our nursing students unique opportunities to teach and participate in health care at the community level,” said Clinical Assistant Professor Maria De Los Santos, who teaches the Community Health Nursing class.

The whole idea behind the program is that the traditional model of health education, with untrained teachers lecturing to students and relying primarily on textbooks, has failed. “Health education, if it’s going to resonate with young people, needs to be interactive and engaging,” said Risa Berrin, founder and director of HIP.

HIP offers students an interactive Web site where they can learn about local and national health resources. They are encouraged to get yearly wellness checkups.

The program aims to educate diverse student populations. North Miami Beach Senior High, a D-rated school with a large population of Haitian students, has a medical clinic staffed by health-care professionals from University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine. The A-rated Miami Palmetto High School, which has a mix of Caucasian, African-American and Hispanic students, does not have even a nurse on its campus.

Although HIP is still in the early stages, it has generated positive feedback and great enthusiasm among the teens, peer educators and nursing students.

“Our students are enjoying the challenge of educating and motivating the ninth-graders and enriching the program with their feedback,” said Clinical Assistant Professor Tatayana Bogopolskiy, a Foreign M.D. to R.N. program faculty member.

Carlos Gurri, a 40-year-old student in Bogopolskiy’s class, has been helping peer educators at North Miami Beach High School improve their presentations and discussing the dangers of smoking, drug abuse and key mental health issues with the teens.

A native of Cuba, Gurri earned his M.D. in 1995. He educated Cuban teens about health issues during his clinical rotations in pediatrics and psychiatry. He has lived in the United States for 14 years.

“Teenagers in Cuba have different health issues than American teens,” he explained. “Smoking is everywhere, but I didn’t see Cuban students using drugs like cocaine and marijuana.”

Gurri credits HIP with helping teens to become more familiar with their own bodies and preparing nursing students for successful careers.

“This experience of working with the teens will make me a better nurse,” he said. “The more I get to know these kids, the better I can help them.”

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