An integral part of becoming a positive, contributing member of society is to integrate community service and independent learning opportunities into your schedule. By giving back to the community in which you reside, you can learn to fully appreciate everything that it has to offer for you. As part of my service-learning opportunities this semester, I volunteered with Partners for World Health and attended virtual interprofessional education events provided by UNE online.

Event	Location	Date	Hours
PWH Orientation	ZOOM	9/30/21	2
IPEC Video Integrated Care: Addressing Adolescent Substance Use/Mental Health	Online	10/30/21	1
PWH	Portland, ME	10/31/21	3
IPEC Video It Takes a Village: Interprofessional Roles and Responsibilities in Medication-Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder	Online	11/13/21	1
IPEC Video Change Agents: Fostering Health Equity and Social Justice	Online	11/19/21	1.5

Partners for World Health

I had the opportunity to volunteer with Partners for World Health at the Portland, ME location in the warehouse packaging, labeling, and organizing medical material that was being shipped to other countries from that facility. I felt that I learned a lot about the process while I was there working with the members of this organization; they taught me that while here in the United States we are mandated to dispose of medical products after a certain amount of time, there are other countries that don’t have the same regulations that we do. This scenario becomes a win for all involved, because we don’t throw away perfectly good medical material and equipment, and other countries in need can have equipment at a much lower cost. This organization focuses on many of the social determinants of health, however I believe that the two most important are access to health care/quality of health care, as well as economic stability. They are making sure that one country isn’t monopolizing on all of the products and those who are in need of these goods have an easier access to them. It is also important for medical corporations in the area to be aware of this service and collaborate together to ensure that all human beings have access to the healthcare, as it is an ethical right to have this access no matter who you are.

Integrated Care: Addressing Adolescent Substance Use/Mental Health

Day One, a nonprofit organization, has focused on adolescent substance abuse and mental health for the past forty years. This IPEC event was led by Dr. Jeff Aalberg, Medical Director at Day One, who gave an example of a client named Emma who was a part of this program and how it effected their treatment and how their experience encompassed the mission statement of this nonprofit organization. I felt the most connected to this IPEC event because they focused on the ACE’s Project, which I have been a part of in my previous place of employment. While I first learned about the ACE’s project a few years ago at my job working in an OB clinic, I have since heard about this project numerous times in my nursing education. I believe looking into the adverse events that can happen during one’s childhood can really paint a picture for how and why their mental and physical health has reached a certain level. Education Access is a social determinant for these children, as well as social and community context, because the lack of education or support for children when they are in the most crucial point in their lives for development can lead them to not having the best health outcomes. I was able to witness the professional collaboration between practices when I was a part of the ACE’s project; the maternity clinic and pediatric clinic were working together to determine ways in which to screen mothers and children in order to decrease their ACE scores.

Change Agents: Fostering Health Equity and Social Justice

This IPEC opportunity touched upon the implications for individual and population health and wellness based on socioecological factors, as well as how an individual’s role as a health care professional can invoke a positive change in the system. At one point in the video, the presenters were answering questions about what they believed their spheres of influence were when working in their field. While some speakers talked about their pragmatic approached to group work and collaboration with peers, others discussed how they liked to lead by example. I personally related to one speaker who said they acted as if they were always being watched by others, and that way they would always do what they believed to be right. By setting good examples and working with others on the team to create a safe and positive work environment, the equity amongst all involved can be developed. The two most important social determinants that were discussed in this video were social and community context and neighborhood and built environment, based on the aforementioned criteria. Interprofessional communication is key to having social justice and equity amongst collaborators when working in a health care setting, or any other setting for that matter.

It Takes a Village: Interprofessional Roles and Responsibilities in Medication-Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder

Growing up in New England, I have always been very aware of the growing opioid crisis in the area. I had numerous students that I went to high school with fall victim to opioid overdose, and even more adults in my hometown had the same fate unfortunately. This presentation discussed the trends in the country but focused primarily on the rates in Maine and how their progression as increased dramatically over the past years, especially in 2020. This spike in opioid poisoning deaths most likely can be attributed to the pandemic; Maine lost 502 people in 2020 due to this problem, which ranks the state as #8 nationally. One part of this presentation that I found interesting was how lack of housing can contribute to the opioid crisis due to the difficulty of following through with sobriety and medication-assisted treatment when the individual does not have stable housing. As the name of this IPEC event suggests, the IPE competency that this event most related to is the roles and responsibilities for collaborative practice, because the collaboration between medical professionals and social workers and the community to provide a more stable environment for these patients to be able to recover from their addiction and decrease the mortality rate we are seeing in this at-risk population. The stability of the economy also plays a major role in these patient’s lives; as the cost of living increases, they are more likely to relapse if they cannot afford to survive and live a healthy lifestyle. Also, the types of neighborhoods and environments plays a role in the success rate of sobriety; when patients live in hard areas that have a lot of exposure to drugs and illegal activities, they are most likely going to be challenged and possibly give into their previous addiction.