Welcome House of Northern Kentucky

Jordan Hickey, Summer 2018

During my Urban Health Project experience, I had the opportunity to work part time at two different sites — Cradle Cincinnati and the Welcome House of Northern Kentucky.

The Welcome House of Northern Kentucky is a shelter for women and children experiencing homelessness. It is the goal of the shelter to move their residents to a state of housing stability and in doing so, offer a wide array of services to aid them in a multidimensional manner. My project at this site worked within the integrated approach set forth by the Welcome House to provide the residents with a healthcare education that supplemented their current resources. During the first week of the project, I administered a health questionnaire to gauge their interest on various health topics. Based on the results of this survey, and conversations I had with individual residents of the house, I developed weekly workshops to address the residents concerns. The topics of the weekly workshops included mental health, preventive medicine, the importance of breast self-exams, mindfulness, stress relief activities, self-care (including both physical and emotional aspects) and nutrition. In addition, I started a weekly walking group to promote physical activity and spending time outside.

Reflecting on my summer working with Urban Health Project, I am so incredibly grateful for this opportunity. It is my goal to work intimately within my community throughout my career; however, I unfortunately feel like time constraints currently put a limit on how often I am able to do so. As such, I am so delighted that I was able to spend this summer working within these populations and apply what I learned in my future as a physician. It was a truly unique, humbling, and motivating experience, for which I am exceptionally thankful.