Midtown Medical Clinic Receives Doppler's from SMU Nursing Students
Two Samuel Merritt University (SMU) nursing students in the Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) program donated new testing equipment to two Sacramento community healthcare clinics.
FNP students Nikki Love, RN and Rebecca Owen, RN from the Sacramento Regional Learning Center (SRLC) noticed that patient assessments were limited by the absence of a Vascular Doppler System at the Midtown and West Sacramento medical clinics. The testing equipment checks for a patient's blood flow or monitor fetal heart tones.
"Well over a third of the clinics patients suffer from diabetes, explains Larry Saltzman, M.D. "People who come in with cold hands, cold feet, where you can't feel a pulse, you can use the Dopplers to detect a beat because you can hear it."
Without hesitation the two students got to work raising money to purchase the equipment. Through the sale of safety kits, baked goods, and donations, the nursing students raised funds to purchase two new Doppler Systems estimated at more than $1,500.
L-B) Dr. Saltzman, with Rebecca Owen, RN, FNP Student
L-F) Elizabeth Cassin, Midtown Medical Center Administrator with Nikki Love, RN, FNP Student
L-F) Elizabeth Cassin, Midtown Medical Center Administrator with Nikki Love, RN, FNP Student
"We could not have done it without the support of our fellow students," said Owen. "It's really encouraging and uplifting to know we are working alongside healthcare professionals who have the best interest of the patients. Each one of us wants to make a difference in the community that we live and work in."
On June 15, at the Midtown Medical Center located on J and 37th, the two nursing students presented the Dopplers to Dr. Saltzman and Elizabeth Cassin, Administrator. Everyone in the office was overwhelmed by the student's generous support. "What these two students have given us will help out a lot," says Cassin. "We have these two systems today which we didn't have before and we are immensely grateful."
More than 20,000 sick, low-income, Eastern European immigrants come to be checked out at the two medical offices. Cassin says each clinic struggles to keep up with the demand as the Slavic population in Greater Sacramento grows. "Each provider are assigned to at least 5,000 patients a year, the need is always there."
"The nursing and physician assistant students from SMU have a benefit of coming here because this is a primary care clinic and they are going to see people with varying levels of acute or chronic disease states," says Dr. Saltzman. "It's a great teaching environment," he adds.
Terry Dean and Nikki Love, RN, FNP student, use the Doppler system on a patient.
The centers provide transportation, translation services in 11 languages, and a staff that knows the culture and customs of the patients, all on a shoestring budget of less than $2 million a year. The difference between costs and what the centers get from the government is made up with home-equity loans from doctors, nurses, staff, and students who feel passionate about what they do. The Slavic community in Greater Sacramento is now estimated at 230,000, and it's growing by about 20,000 a year.