UIC Rural Nursing students get up-close look at hazards of farm life
body copy Heading link
On Oct. 12, seven DNP students pursuing the rural nursing concentration at our Rockford Campus participated in “No Harm on the Farm,” an annual emergency-response training for first responders in rural Northwest Illinois. They were led by campus director Kelly Rosenberger, DNP ’12, CNM, WHNP-BC, FAANP,
For several years now, students from the Rural Medicine, Rural Pharmacy and, now, Rural Nursing programs at UIC’s Health Sciences Campus in Rockford have been invited to observe and participate in the training.
The event is held at Scheidairy Farm in Stephenson County, Illinois. The students’ the day begins with a farm tour by owner Doug Scheider, during which he explains the distinct health risks farmers face as they deal with animals, animal-borne illnesses, heavy equipment and unique chemicals on a daily basis.
Scheider also addresses the stress of remote farm living and a livelihood reliant on uncontrollable factors like time-sensitive crops, weather and commodity prices.
Later in the day, the training begins in earnest, when fire crews and EMTs are called to respond to simulated farm accidents. This year, it was a tractor rollover and grain-bin rescue (where UIC Nursing student Jeannette Bredeman got to play the farmer in distress).
“While nurses may not be the first responders in a farm-related accident, they will be caring for these patients once they present to the local clinic or are life-flighted to the Critical Access Hospital,” says Rosenberger. “So it’s important for nurses working with these patients to have a basic understanding of the presentation and management of common rural health hazards.”