Student Volunteers Provide Range of Preventative Health Screenings to Seniors and Other Groups
Members of Rutgers Health Service Corps also offer conversation and smiles
With a commitment to care, Rutgers pharmacy majors, pre-med students, undergrads and other volunteers are providing health screenings to community members throughout New Jersey.
For these students – whose ongoing efforts are directed by Rutgers Health Service Corps – giving back to the community is as central to the university experience as academic excellence, peer engagement and Big Ten sports.
We’re looking to be a leader in community service – we want to be active in improving other people’s lives, because that’s what we do here at Rutgers Health.
Jack Hemphill
Associate Program Manager, Office of Population Health & Co-founder, Rutgers Health Service Corps
The corps enables volunteers to work alongside health care professionals and with partner organizations to conduct preventative health screenings and educate the community on such topics as hypertension, diabetes, nutrition and cancer. Also emphasized are service opportunities in areas such as emergency preparedness, food insecurity, substance abuse prevention and mental health.
“We officially began conducting these health screenings through the corps less than a year ago, but it really goes back to the pandemic and helping with vaccinations,” said Jack Hemphill, an associate program manager in the Office of Population Health and co-founder of the Rutgers Health Service Corps. “Several students came together during the pandemic to help out, and the effort grew steadily from there. Our focus is on improving health outcomes for a range of populations, while also giving students an interprofessional educational experience they will never forget.”
Corps health screenings are conducted throughout New Brunswick, with other locations in Newark and at Somerset County Senior Wellness Centers. Corps administrators, including Project Coordinator Brandi Blackshear, said the effort already is a substantial undertaking, with active cohorts going out several times a month during the academic year.
In total, there are about 50 student volunteers, along with an additional 350 volunteers registered to work on an ad hoc basis. Since September 2024, corps volunteers and student partners engaged in health screenings and other health promotion-related activities have logged more than 3,000 service hours.
“We’re looking to be a leader in community service – we want to be active in improving other people’s lives, because that’s what we do here at Rutgers Health,” Hemphill said. “In showing up to serve, we’re accomplishing two things. We help our students make an important, tangible difference, while also providing them with an avenue to refine their health care skills.”
When the students visit, there’s a level of love and mutual respect. Our seniors enjoy spending time with them. You can see the connections happening.
Joanne Fetzko
Executive Director, Somerset County Office on Aging and Disability Services
Students from the Rutgers School of Nursing and the university’s Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy participating in the screening program are led by Donna Feudo, associate dean of experiential education and clinical affairs, Lucio Volino and Rupal Mansukhani, both clinical professors, and Rita Truex and Maryse Bouton, Rutgers Health lecturers. Other participants include members of the student-led American Preventive Screening & Education Association’s Rutgers chapter, which is headed by Aayush Visaria, instructor of medicine at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
The ongoing relationship with the Somerset County Senior Wellness Centers – which has locations in Basking Ridge, Bridgewater, Hillsborough, Skillman, Somerset and Warren – began in January 2024, when Karen Z. Kowalski, health promotion specialist for the organization reached out to the Rutgers Health Services Corps. The first screening event took place in March 2024 at the center in Somerset.
“When we work with the seniors, our students try to make it entertaining for them,” said Nina Raps, a pharmacy field manager with the Experiential Education Office at the Rutgers Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy. “They try to make something of a game out of the process. We screen for heart health, diabetes, blood pressure, weight management, and physical activity … and we also spend time simply talking with the seniors.”
Other types of screenings are pending, including monitoring of mental health medications. But, as Joanne Fetzko, executive director, Somerset County Office on Aging and Disability Services, said, there’s more to the corps’ screening visits than health assessments.
“We’re really talking about intergenerational, social engagement,” Fetzko said. “When the students visit, there’s a level of love and mutual respect. Our seniors enjoy spending time with them, and many of the students actually haven’t had much exposure to older people. You can see the connections happening. In fact, we’ve had a number of students approach us after a visit to ask about possibly volunteering with us during their summer breaks.”
They try to make something of a game out of the process. We screen for heart health, diabetes, blood pressure, weight management, and physical activity.
Nina Raps
Pharmacy Field Manager, Experiential Education Office, Rutgers Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy
The Rutgers Health Service Corps also coordinates screenings at the Greater Newark Health Care Coalition, New Brunswick Tomorrow and the RWJ University Hospital Community Health Promotions Program. One partner, the Rutgers Equity Alliance for Community Health, provided funding through its Community-Academic Grant Program to support the corps in conducting screenings with community partners in New Brunswick.
Recently, the corps provided education at an employee health fair for the Bristol Myers Squibb pharmaceutical company. The corps periodically offers mini health screenings and educational sessions at additional community locations, including ShopRite stores and local faith-based organizations such as St. Gregorios Orthodox Church in Clifton, N.J.
“Community health education and screenings are part of Rutgers Health’s DNA,” Hemphill said. “Our health professions schools have been doing this for years, and the corps helps harness that strength – connecting community members to the Rutgers ecosystem so they can access the services they want and need, while also providing students with a meaningful platform for serving and learning.”
Behind the Scenes at Rutgers Health Service Corps Health Screening at the Somerset County Senior Wellness Center in Basking Ridge.
