Caring for Underserved Community
In Part 1, you will explore your community’s resources for people who have limited access to affordable, accessible, acceptable food and/or food services (e.g., people who live in a food desert). Using the case study presented, you will develop a meal plan that is appropriate for the identified medical condition and considers the culture of the individual, family, or group. In Part 2, you will create a meal plan for an individual with a chronic illness. You will include family members in the meal planning if applicable and possible.
Part 1: Caring for People Who Are Underserved – Food Insecurity
Imagine you are a community health nurse assigned to care for a person who was recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. JK is a 66-year-old Black woman with hypertension and asthma. JK lives in a food desert and does not drive. JK’s family visits her weekly/on weekends only, but they have complicated lives and are unable to provide daily care for her. She does not have uber or lift services, she must take public transportation to her appointments and shopping needs.
For this assessment, imagine that JK lives in your zip code.
Evaluate the following community health resources and summarize them in a table:
- United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
- Food Access Research Atlas
- Food Access Research Atlas Map
- Characteristics and Influential Factors of Food Deserts
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- A Systematic Review of Food Deserts, 1966-2007
- Small Food Stores and Availability of Nutritious Foods
- Data & Statistics
Create a plan in which you detail opportunities for JK to gain adequate access to appropriate foods for 1 week in your zip code.
Your plan must address:
- Appropriate and realistic estimated budget
- Shopping locations, including food banks
- Transportation means, routes, and timing
- Support services
Create a 10-slide Microsoft® PowerPoint® presentation with speaker notes. Include the table summarizing the community health resources and the plan for JK.
Part 2: Clinical Activities: Caring for People Who Are Underserved – Food Insecurity (4 Direct Care Clinical Hours)
Working with your chosen family, select an individual who has 1 or more chronic health issues (e.g., hypertension, diabetes, kidney disease). If no one in your chosen family meets these criteria, work with a community agency. With your individual and family, create a meal plan in which you detail opportunities for this individual (and family) to gain adequate access to appropriate, affordable food for 1 week.
Your plan must address:
- Appropriate and realistic estimated budget
- Shopping locations; include food banks within a 5-mile radius
- Meal storage
- Meal preparation
- Transportation means, routes, and timing
- Support services
- Healthy meal planning apps that may be useful for the individual or family (e.g., USDA MyPlate)
- The individual’s medical conditions and cultural preferences
- Available community resources
- Referrals to community resources, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and/or Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Food and Nutrition Service
- Review the plan and related education and/or health counseling with the individual. Include family members in the discussion.
- Help the family work with community agencies in their efforts to obtain nutritional food (e.g., SNAP, WIC, other).
- Provide a copy of the meal plan to the individual and family.
Evaluate the feasibility of your meal planning by returning to the individual or family at the end of Week 4. Contact the individual/family in person or by phone. Inquire as to how the meal plan worked. Was it useful? Were they able to stay within budget and find all the items they were looking for? If not, were they able to find substitutes that were nutritionally sound? Problem-solve and provide alternatives during this evaluation.
Write a 525-word summary of your interactions with the individual and/or family. Include your detailed meal plan and outcomes. As part of your summary, discuss the interprofessional nature of working with families to address food insecurity (e.g., consider agencies that you referred the family to and/or you assisted the family to access).
- Compile your slide presentation from Part 1 and your summary from Part 2 for submission.
- Submit your assignment.
- Note: The development of your PowerPoint presentation and summary cannot be included in the calculation/achievement of your direct care hours.
Direct Care Clinical Hours
Record your clinical hours in Typhon.
Clinical hours should be logged as they are completed each day.
A minimum of 45 preceptor-validated direct care hours are required to meet the course objectives. Incomplete clinical hours or failure to meet course objectives will result in failing the course.
