Students bridge the gap in health care for homeless beneath I-35

As they have each semester for several years, students from Baylor’s Health and Human Performance department (led by Dr. Beth Lanning, BSED ’89, MSED ’91) collaborated with Mission Waco and Church Under the Bridge to host a Health Fair for Waco’s homeless and underserved this past weekend. (See photos from the event here.)

Student-led booths offered eye care (including free reading glasses), nutrition advice, blood pressure screening, diabetes and cardiovascular disease information, dental care (with free toothbrushes, toothpaste and floss), foot washing, free shoes and gift hygiene bags (with items donated by Baylor students), and other services as well a kids’ corner for the little ones with free books and face painting.

The program helps both the Waco community and Baylor students, Lanning notes. “It gives students an opportunity to practice what we are teaching in the classroom; they learn how to assess health needs and how to develop a program (a health fair in this case) that attempts to meet the needs identified. From a spiritual perspective, it allows the students to serve others. They learn how fortunate they are to have more than one pair of shoes or to never wonder where they will sleep or if they will have something to eat that day, and that each person they meet has a story. … The last thing they learn is something about themselves. Some of the students have never really talked to a person who is homeless. Some have never been around poverty. Others have been on mission trips and understand need and want to help. It is always a growing experience and a blessing for all those involved.”

Sic ’em, Baylor HHPR students!