Rural partnership provides women’s health screenings for 19th year

In early November, the Augusta University College of Nursing hosted its 19^th annual Costa Layman Women’s Clinic, partnering with Carolina Health Centers Inc. at Ridge Spring Family Practice to provide free health screenings to over 125 female farm workers. 

The clinic operates with an interdisciplinary team composed of students and graduates from the Doctor or Nursing Practice and Clinical Nurse Leader programs, faculty members from AU’s Medical College of Georgia‘s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wellstar MCG Health phlebotomists and health care providers from Carolina Health Centers, Inc. 

“The long-standing academic collaboration with the OB/GYN department to share teaching faculty and the community partnership with the Ridge Spring Clinic to provide their clinical services were integral to the success of the Women’s Clinic for the ladies of Costa Layman Farms and the students,” said Debbie Layman, DNP, a board member of the AU Foundation Board of Trustees. “Dr. Pam Cromer has done a wonderful job growing and maintaining these relationships.” 

Many rural, seasonal agricultural workers face unique challenges and health disparities due to language barriers, access to health care and the constraints of their work. The partnership with Carolina Health Centers and the Costa Layman Outreach programs helped the workers receive essential primary care services focused on health promotion and prevention, which would otherwise be difficult for them to afford. 

Workers often have to use the emergency room for primary care, if they seek medical attention at all. General health screenings are provided at the Annual Costa Layman Health Fair held every July, but the women’s clinic, held annually in the fall, puts special emphasis on health issues that women face specifically.  

Every year, Costa Farms provides transportation to the clinic for their female employees where they have access to health screenings including pap smears, breast exams and mammograms. Additionally, they can receive screenings for body weight and blood pressure, as well as flu vaccines. 

The Lions Club International Foundation donates and funds vision screening equipment for events like the women’s clinic. Ronnye Eubanks represented the North Augusta Lions Club by providing vision screenings to check eye shape, compare refractions of pupil diameters and help identify nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism. 

“That’s the primary mission of the Lions Club,” Eubanks said. “’We Serve.’ Helen Keller asked them back in 1925 to become knights for the blind, and they accepted that challenge.” 

This year, the clinic introduced more robust counseling services alongside other supplemental resources, such as a clothes closet, a nutritionist, refreshments and bilingual health referrals. 

Jessica Jacobs, director of Behavioral Health at Carolina Health Centers, and Molly Brunson, a behavioral health consultant, provided brief targeted interventions to identify anxiety, depression and intimate partner violence so that appropriate resources can be provided. 

“We do integrated behavioral health,” Jacobs said. “Whenever a behavioral health screen is completed, if there’s a positive score or need identified, we will go right into the exam room and deliver an intervention.” 

Carolina Health Centers also organized and managed all the lab work and samples that were collected through a partnership with Lab Corp. 

Locke Simons, MD, chief medical officer of Carolina Health Centers, appreciates the efficiency of the clinic in providing health maintenance items that the women would not receive otherwise. 

“It allows us to help a lot of folks at once, to make it convenient and as easy as it can be to get the health care they need at a time that works for them,” Simons said. 

Faculty experts in women’s health, including Elisa Jenks, DNP, a certified nurse midwife and CON faculty member, ensured patients received the highest quality of care while taking time to provide the students with an exceptional clinical experience. 

“It’s cool to show them what a well-woman exam looks like, what is normal and abnormal,” Jenks said. “This is the teaching moment for these students. Hopefully we can continue to come out and do this.” 

Pam Cromer, DNP, director of Outreach and Community Engagement for CON, has witnessed the evolution and positive impact of collaborations, as well as the strong partnerships developed between the College of Nursing, Carolina Health Center, Wellstar MCG Health and Costa Layman Farms over 19 years. 

“The pooling of human and fiscal resources are key elements attributed to the ongoing success of clinic operations,” Cromer said. “With high-quality patient care as the focus, uniting a health care workforce committed to public health is a necessity in all communities.” 

Access to women’s health care is an issue not only for farm workers but also for many women who live in rural areas. According to the Women’s Rights and Empowerment Network, 30% of counties in South Carolina do not have practicing OB/GYNs. Ridge Spring and Costa Farms are located in two of these counties, Saluda and Edgefield, respectively. 

Wellstar MCG Health President Ralph Turner has acknowledged the significance of event like this and supports efforts to provide rural services to communities while promoting service-learning opportunities, particularly in women’s health, for future health care providers. Representatives with Wellstar MCG have also embraced this mindset.  

“Our vision at Wellstar MCG is to enhance the well-being of every person we serve, including our commitment to community involvement,” said Gabrielle Helfgott, DNP, a certified nurse midwife and CON faculty. “It is a wonderful opportunity to precept nurse practitioner students as they refine their clinical skills in a rural health setting.” 

Wellstar MCG Health also provided critical communication services during the event. Vivian Rice, manager for Wellstar MCG’s Office of Interpretation and Translation Services and a long-time participant of the clinic, recruits and trains interpreters to fill every station of the clinic. 

“The interpreter facilitates communication between the provider, the students and the patients,” Rice said. “Most of the patients we see here have limited English proficiency, and they require our services, especially when we need to consent them. I love it! I do it every year. Even if I decide to retire, I’ll probably continue volunteering. It feels good in my heart.” 

Another component of the clinic in recent years has been a coat closet organized by Angela Stroman, DNP is a two-time alum and a nurse practitioner at AU’s Student Health. 

“I graduated two years ago from the DNP program and have since recruited my dad, uncle, mom and aunt,” Stroman said. “I bring colleagues from my old and new clinics. It’s a good service and a great place to reconnect.” 

Abigail Grandin, a senior family nurse practitioner student, appreciates the importance of working events like the women’s clinic to bolster her professional education. 

“This is a good opportunity and experience for DNP students to be involved in and promote health maintenance and screening for those in underserved populations,” Grandin said. “It ties together everything we are focused on as family nurse practitioners like disease prevention and health promotion.” 

Over the years, the workers have come to understand and appreciate the educational opportunities the clinic also provides to the students. 

“The patients are familiar with us and know that we are teaching students, and they are usually very comfortable with that,” said Lynn Allmond, a CON instructor. “It builds the confidence of our students so much more. If I had an experience like this, I would have considered going into women’s health.” 

If you are bilingual and would like to become certified to be an interpreter, please contact Vivian Rice via phone (706-721-6921) or email to learn more about upcoming training opportunities. To donate to the clothes closet, please contact Angela Stroman via email.