Students, Faculty Host Successful Senior Health Fair in Southampton

Faculty and students from Stony Brook University’s School of Health Technology and Management, along with staff and volunteers from Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, co-hosted a successful “Connect to Your Health” Senior Citizen Health Fair at the Hampton Bays Senior Center on September 27.

Student volunteers from the Applied Health Informatics (AHI) program and the Stony Brook University School of Nursing helped seniors learn how to use various health technologies. The fair provided seniors with information about tick disease as well as community resources and preventative health and patient portals. Seniors also received free blood pressure screenings and massages.

School of Nursing students provided blood pressure screenings under the leadership of Professor Giselle Gerardi, a registered nurse and professor in the Applied Health Informatics program. Volunteers from Southampton Hospital and Stony Brook Medicine also took part in the event.

The “Connect to Your Health” event was an experiential learning project embedded in the AHI curriculum, allowing students to plan and execute the event under the leadership of faculty in the program. Students taught seniors how to use iPad technology to access reliable health-related resources.  Additionally, several students served on the planning committee.

Dr. Charles V. Guida, Board-Certified Geriatrician from Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, delivered the keynote about the importance of patient-physician engagement.

The Applied Health Informatics progam was awarded a grant by the National Network of Libraries of Medicine to conduct this health-technology wellness fair for the senior population in the Town of Southampton. The AHI program collaborated with Robert Chaloner, Chief Administrative Officer of Southampton Hospital, Karen Wulffraat, Southampton Hospital Director of Community Outreach, and Liz Dwyer, director of the Town of Southampton Senior Centers.

“We are so proud of our students,” said Carmen McCoy, Program Director for Applied Health Informatics. “We plan to continue educational activities in the Town of Southampton with the senior population with the technology purchased from the grant.”