In The Streets

Hopkins Nurses Transform Baltimore

Reaching out from the confines of the East Baltimore campus, Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing students and faculty are taking their skills and knowledge to the streets. Among these everyday heroes are student Emeline Mugisha, the Nursing Student Association, and faculty mentor Ibby Tanner, PhD, MS, RN, who were presented with community service Awards at the 2011-2012 Student Outreach Resource Center (SOURCE) Volunteer Appreciation and Service Awards luncheon in April.

Mugisha helped to implement an HIV outreach program to empower Baltimore’s young adults to be leaders in HIV protection. She taught HIV prevention curriculum to volunteers in hopes they will spread the knowledge even further, and she played a prominent role in leading the first-ever Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health World AIDS Day Community Fair in 2012.

The Nursing Stydebt Association (NSA) was recognized for continued dedication to the community through multiple projects, including offering fellowship opportunities to families of children receiving treatment at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, planting trees and assisting in SOURCE food drives, and participating in Maryland legislative activities. The NSA also partners with local groups such as the House of Ruth and Yo! Academy, assembles disaster kits and provides education in disaster planning, and ships care packages to military nurses overseas to celebrate National Nurse Week (May 6-12).

Ibby Tanner’s community service outreach was recognized for her role as a faculty advisor for the JHUSON Geriatric Interest Group and Daniel’s Scholar/Interprofessional Education Program. She assists the Baltimore geriatric population by organizing home visits, health fairs, and social events at assisted living facilities, and she aspires to strengthen both the Baltimore community and the relationship between the schools of nursing and medicine at Johns Hopkins.