In March of 2024, I volunteered with SCOPE, a Student-run Collaborative Outreach Program for Health Equity, to bring healthcare to women in an underserved county in central PA. Going into this event, I was very unsure of what to expect. It landed on a Friday night, and the town was roughly two hours from State College. Friday evenings are usually my time to shut down school for the weekends to enjoy a much deserved break from a long week. Nonetheless, a friend and I decided that we would give it a try, and we were so glad we did!
PSU’s SCOPE is a program lead by Penn State Hershey’s medical students and nursing students. They work with members of the community to spread their mission as far and as wide as possible. This particular event, “Ladies Night Out”, was a circus-themed girls only event with dozens of vendors, dancing, music, food, prizes, and more.
SCOPE was able to bring a few PSU nursing students (myself included!), a few Penn State Hershey resident and attending doctors, and PSU medical students. I loved being able to work with people much older and farther into their career path than me as I was able to observe how their past experiences got them to the place they are in today; it was extremely inspiring! On the contrary, it was very intimidating to enter that building full of powerful women and feel so small and containing such little knowledge.
I gave it some time, and I ended up having a wonderful night offering free healthcare screenings to women who need it the most. My favorite part of the night was not the healthcare as much as it was the conversations that these women allowed me to have with them about their lifestyles, their health, and their personal struggles. I will forever be thankful that I pushed myself out of my comfort zone to attend this event, and I hope that I will continue to take part in events like this that strive to bring the basic necessity of healthcare to those who need it.
Thank you.
This sounds like an awesome event and so beneficial to everyone not just the women who may have needed health screenings. I love hearing all of your stories and continuing to see how you go outside your comfort zone and always end up with great memories
This sounds really interesting and something that could be so helpful for a lot of people. It’s really interesting about talking about how you conducted free women’s health screening. Overall I loved reading about how you always stepped out your convert zone in these readings.
i love how in every blog post there was something about you incorporated into the stories! I admire you for always reaching out to help other people who im sure appreciated everything you did.