Interprofessional Health Fair at the Margaret Talkington School for Young Women Leaders

The Margaret Talkington School for Young Women Leaders (SYWL) partnered with the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Office of Interprofessional Education to host an interprofessional health fair for its 160-member high school student body as part of its health and wellness pillars. The health fair was a half-day event held in November where SYWL students were able to participate in health and wellness activities, while TTUHSC students were able to engage in an interprofessional collaborative care experience.

Dr. Kim Peck of the TTUHSC Department of Family and Community Medicine opened the health fair with a keynote presentation, “Roles of Women in Medicine.” TTUHSC students from the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, the School of Allied Health Sciences, the School of Medicine, the School of Nursing and the School of Pharmacy volunteered to screen blood pressure, blood sugar, weight, height, vision, hearing, stress, and fitness. In addition to screenings, TTUHSC students also provided education and counseling related to diet and nutrition, stress management, hearing conservation and fitness training. TTUHSC students also shared with the high school students the roles and responsibilities of their professions, as well as their personal inspirational stories that brought them to the field of health care.

TTUHSC students worked in interprofessional teams to complete screenings under the supervision of several TTUHSC faculty/staff mentors from Internal Medicine, Ophthalmology, Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Athletic Training and Rehabilitation Counseling. For example, athletic training students paired with nursing students to complete fitness screenings. Audiology and nursing students even gave the high school students hands-on training in conducting hearing screenings.

The Margaret Talkington SYWL is part of the Young Women's Preparatory Network, a non-profit organization that partners with public school districts to create and support all-girl schools. The school is a Lubbock ISD single-gender specialty school focusing on college preparatory academics, leadership development through community service and health and wellness. The school has a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) curriculum with a focus on the pillars of leadership, college readiness and health. LISD TV was at the interprofessional health fair to record a segment for their programming.