Una Vida Sana!: An interprofessional service-learning outreach project in an underserved Latino population

Service-learning has become a required or strongly encouraged component in many health care professional curricula; however, interprofessional patient-care service-learning opportunities may be limited. Una Vida Sana! (UVS) was developed as a service-learning project aimed to meet a community need in the local Latino population while also providing an authentic service-learning opportunity for health care professional students. The service-learning project was developed and implemented in collaboration with many community partners, including the Office of Multicultural Affairs, an interpreter training program, a free clinic, a Spanish lay health promoter program, and faith-based organizations. Health screenings (including blood glucose, blood pressure, and body mass index) and education, event site selections, event flow, student trainings, and the free clinic referral process were developed and implemented as a part of the project. Community participant screening data, student hours, and student perceptions were tracked during the outreach events for the first year of the project. A total of 45 health care professional students completed 225 hours of service-learning while screening 130 participants during four events. The majority of participants were Latino, with 62% having at least one abnormal screening value, and 10% referred to the partnering free clinic. Themes from student feedback indicated learning about working with an underserved community and interpreters.