Belmont University
EN-9: Community Partnerships

The partnerships described below are with the a statewide organization of Community College Health Sciences Deans; Nashville Healthcare Council and Leadership Healthcare; Go Baby Go; Wash ‘n Roll; Thistle Farms. The College of Health Sciences collaborations and partnerships: Diagnosing Our Future is a lecture series sponsored by CHS and open to the public. 2015 topics include infectious disease; maternal and child health in developing countries; orphan care; emerging technologies; personalized medicine; quality and process improvement in health care and health care reform. Regular work with Community College Health Sciences deans statewide to create 2 + 2 academic options for first generation college students. Most recently developed new public health (ASPH/BSPH) path. Sponsored statewide Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Best Practices Summit for healthcare providers (175 participants). Work with professional organizations, the Nashville Healthcare Council and Leadership Healthcare to develop the next generation of healthcare leaders (legislative policy summits; visits to Capitol Hill; networking with area professionals and healthcare executives for students and faculty) The School of Occupational Therapy: • All OTD students complete a 640 hour Residency Project, typically involving applied work with vulnerable, special needs populations in concert with health-related and non-profit agencies. Descriptions at: http://belmont.edu/ot/otd/academics_otd/experientialcomponent/index.html • All incoming OTD students, returning OTD students and faculty provide an afternoon of service to area partners to collaboratively address community needs. Following the experience, a discussion is co-led by the returning students and faculty to help the incoming students reflect on their experiences. In this way, returning students are required to reflect on their understanding of community service with incoming students and assist in educating incoming students regarding the service experience. • Go Baby Go – work with community partners to adapt motorized cars to promote mobility and rehabilitation for infants and toddlers. Cars are recycled for younger children as the children outgrow them or they are no longer needed. • Wash ‘n Roll – Community based project to service wheelchairs at no cost to participants. • Continuing education for Fieldwork Educators related to Tennessee Code of Ethics which is needed to maintain licensure in Tennessee. • Ergonomic Workstation Evaluation – students and faculty assess campus and community office and computer workspaces and make ergonomically correct recommendations to optimize body function and position Meharry Vanderbilt Alliance: Projects with Faculty and Student involvement with community groups like Urban Housing Solutions(3 projects) , St Lukes, and Street Works. Students from Belmont developed educational materials etc for these groups: https://medschool.vanderbilt.edu/meharry-vanderbilt/ipe-news-all-news/meharry-vanderbilt-alliance-recognizes-student-efforts-ipe-pilot-project . The university has an award-winning program known as Enactus which has won both the U.S. national competition twice (which included 600 colleges), as well as coming in third once and first in the global Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) competition. Enactus’ current signature project is Spring Back Recycling, which employs the homeless in the recycling of mattresses that would otherwise be sent to landfills. Currently, almost 6,000 mattresses have been recycled. This initiative is now receiving attention from cities beyond Nashville that want to adopt this innovative and effective sustainability effort. Other such sustainable projects have been supported by SIFE. For example, another project was to develop a cottage business for women who had a criminal history of prostitution. The business, Thistle Farms, uses the lowly thistle as the basis for making products from paper to bath and body lotions. Thanks to the efforts of the university in conjunction with the Thistle Farms leadership team, these products are now sold nationwide through Whole Foods. Biology students have also been helping Metropolitan Nashville Parks assess the biodiversity of the Hill Forest Natural Area, and students a variety of service-learning classes regularly volunteer at community gardens throughout Nashville. One student in particular tended the Scaritt Bennett Peace Garden, a garden intended to promote interfaith and intercultural conversation through shared gardening and food. Students also worked with various local environmental organizations on different projects, including: adopting a stream and organizing a stream clean-up, environmental lessons for an after-school program, creating an interactive website mapping trees in Davidson county, building an accessible garden at a local park, trail maintenance at a local park, showing an environmental documentary to high school students and in public venues

Partnerships with Thistle Farms and Whole Foods are described below: The university has an award-winning program known as Enactus which has won both the U.S. national competition (which included 600 colleges), as well as coming in third in the global Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) competition. Enactus’ current signature project is Spring Back Recycling, which employs the homeless in the recycling of mattresses that would otherwise be sent to landfills. Currently, almost 6,000 mattresses have been recycled. This initiative is now receiving attention from cities beyond Nashville that want to adopt this innovative and effective sustainability effort. Another project was to develop a cottage business for women who had a criminal history of prostitution. The business, Thistle Farms, uses the lowly thistle as the basis for making products from paper to bath and body lotions. Thanks to the efforts of the university in conjunction with the Thistle Farms leadership team, these products are now sold nationwide through Whole Foods.

The Physical Therapy Program partners with the public school system to have Health fairs for local 4th graders. Also coordinate the Dierks Bentley’s Miles and Music for Kids fund raiser. The Physical Therapy Program: • Pediatric sports day for individuals with disabilities to promote health and physical activity. • Health fairs for local 4th graders • Students are encouraged to carpool for clinical and off-campus work and visits (legislative and professional development days and conferences, etc.) • All PT students and faculty actively engage in community serviceDierks Bentley’s Miles and Music for Kids • Komen Race for the Cure • Mission trips to Guatemala, China, Cambodia • Empower Me day camp for children with disabilities • Provided on-campus continuing education for more than 500 providers in 2015 at low-use times (nights, weekends) o Sponsors provide reusable water bottles for conference participants • Human Anatomy Lab o Increased use of cadavers – multiple education and training uses for cadavers include undergraduate students, area health care professionals, and the Army. o Piloting extended use of some cadavers to decrease need for additional purchases. o Decreased hazardous waste footprint – tests of anatomy lab waste determined it is non-hazardous

Other sustainable projects have been started around the world by SIFE. For example, women have been taught how to make beautiful jewelry by creating beads from the paper of discarded magazines. These items are then sold in the U.S. to provide funds for the families of these African villagers. fashionABLE is a Nashville-based nonprofit with a mission of creating sustainable business opportunities for women in Africa. Founded in October 2010 by Barrett Ward, fashionABLE currently sells a line of woven scarves produced by women in Ethiopia who have been rehabilitated out of lives of prostitution. Belmont Enactus students have helped fashionABLE develop its business plan, perform financial modeling, and manage inventory and order fulfillment.