Nursing Students Take Temperature of Town

Five nursing students from Worcester have been sent to Grafton to deliver a diagnosis of the town’s community health status and services.

Their diagnosis: The town takes a healthy approach to the health of its residents, in large part by anticipating potential problems and providing solutions in advance.

The students from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in Worcester were studying Grafton as part of a community health class in their accelerated 16-month program to earn a bachelor’s degree in nursing.

The program requires them to “look at the community as though it were a patient,’’ said student Ellen Peterson.

That is good training for these future nurses, because pro-active care, which provides support and awareness of potential problems a patient may face before they grow more serious and complicated to treat, is a major focus of nursing, they said.

A major component of the class requires them to do an assessment of a community and its health services.

They do this by performing a “windshield’’ assessment: They drive around town and note the doctor’s offices, hospitals and other health services, such as the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center clinic in North Grafton and the pediatric office of Dr. Barbara Rugo-Focht called Kids on the Common on Grafton Common.

They also noticed that, for whatever reasons, the town has an ample number of dentists.

After their drive-around, they visited town services, such as the town nurse and the Board of Health office, to learn more about health programs.

They were particularly impressed with a program offering free, in-school flu shots to town students. “That’s a huge deal,’’ said student Heather Berrien. “We were really impressed.’’

They liked how Grafton combines a rural feel with an urban mindset on health programs, she said.

“The town is very involved’’ as a community with outreach activities such as having a Medical Reserve Corps and town-sponsored holiday programs.

“Even though it’s a small town, Grafton seems to make good use of its resources,’’ Peterson said.

Their final report will include recommendations based on the Healthy People 2020 initiative, a program of the U.S Department of Health and Human Services aimed at creating a healthier nation by the end of the decade.

One possibility recommendation they may make, the students said, would be to create more walking areas in town and/or better publicize the walking trails that are already in place.

But on the whole, they said, the town would earn strong marks.

“It’s amazing how much you can learn about a town in three weeks,’’ Peterson said. “This town is very healthy. There probably won’t be drastic needs’’ cited in the report, she said.