East Stroudsburg University\u2019s Department of Health Studies has partnered with Monroe County Meals on Wheels to help the organization\u2019s homebound clients with diabetes manage the condition while combating food insecurity.<\/p>\n
Under faculty supervision, graduate students in ESU\u2019s Master of Public Health (MPH) program visit Meals on Wheels clients in their homes to provide diabetes self-management and nutrition education to address barriers to healthy food access. Visits started in early October.<\/p>\n
The initiative began after Monroe County Meals on Wheels observed an increase in clients reporting diabetes, said professor of health sciences and master of public health (MPH) program coordinator Clare Lenhart, Ph.D. The organization partnered with Dr. Lenhart and a class of her MPH students to complete an assessment that identified multiple needs<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was discovered that many Meals on Wheels clients face challenges managing their diabetes, including navigating blood sugar management while also experiencing food insecurity and difficulty accessing healthy foods,\u201d Dr. Lenhart said.<\/p>\n
Dr. Lenhart secured an $11,655 grant from Pennsylvania\u2019s State System of Higher Education\u2019s Faculty Professional Development Committee to establish the program.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are thrilled to have the opportunity to work alongside an important community partner like Meals on Wheels on a project that has the potential to make a meaningful difference in the lives of community members,\u201d Dr. Lenhart said.<\/p>\n
In addition to Dr. Lenhart\u2019s oversight of the partnership, project co-director and instructor of health sciences Hayley Daubert \u2013 a registered dietician and licensed nutritionist \u2013 will provide nutrition expertise that will guide the programming and education materials.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn addition to providing education, the project team is working with community partners to address barriers to diabetes management as they are identified, including working with local food pantries to increase opportunities for home delivery of pantry allocations for eligible participants,\u201d Daubert said.<\/p>\n
Master of Public Health students Frances Gourdet and Mariah Huertas will assist with the development of the materials and their delivery to Meals on Wheels clients, help clients identify strategies for managing diabetes, and handle outreach, communication, and data collection.<\/p>\n
For Gourdet, Huertas, and other MPH students participating in the program, the project provides valuable experience working directly with community members and applying public health concepts outside the classroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe in-home experience will allow students to see firsthand how social determinants of health, including food insecurity, transportation, financial limitations, and access to healthy foods, can affect chronic disease management,\u201d Daubert said.<\/p>\n
Both Dr. Lenhart and Daubert said it is rewarding to provide these hands-on learning experiences for ESU students while meeting the needs of the surrounding community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis project demonstrates ESU Public Health\u2019s commitment to being an active partner in the community by using faculty expertise and student involvement to address real public health needs,\u201d Dr. Lenhart said.<\/p>\n
Learn more about ESU\u2019s Department of Health Studies<\/a> and the master of public health program<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ESU\u2019s Department of Health Studies has partnered with Monroe County Meals on Wheels to help the organization\u2019s homebound clients with diabetes manage the condition while combating food insecurity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":25227,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[143,42,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-news-release","category-slider"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25224"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25224"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25228,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25224\/revisions\/25228"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}