Ellen Demos, left, nurse practitioner, and Nikki Gehring, right, registered
nurse, both of the University of Kentucky College of Nursing, perform a well-child exam on Sabrina Combs, resident of Virginia Place in Lexington.

Virginia Place houses single parents - both men and women - who are full-time students. It also provides affordable housing, child care, counseling, and health care right at its site off Red Mile Road.

Nurse practitioner Ellen Demos and registered nurse Nikki Gehring, from the UK College of Nursing's Good Samaritan Nursing Center, staff the free primary care clinic at Virginia Place from 3 to 7 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays.

"We found that many of the parents do not have any type of health insurance," Demos said. "Many of them are young, new parents who haven't been living on their own very long. They have questions on general medical conditions, when it's appropriate to seek medical attention, and pediatric health care. Both Nikki and I are here to help answer these questions and many more."

In addition, the nurses provide educational programs on healthy habits and drug prevention to the children at the daycare center and they provide health information through brochures and programs for the parents throughout the month.

"Many of your health habits, such as why and how you brush your teeth and wash your hands, are established when you are young," Gehring said. "We are helping to establish a good health foundation for children to use now and for the remainder of their lives."

The free clinic is only one of the many joint projects between the College and the Good Samaritan Foundation Inc. The foundation has funded or helped pay for several College of Nursing community projects since 1994. In 1998, the Good Samaritan Foundation Inc. and the UK College of Nursing partnership developed the Good Samaritan Nurse Managed Care Center.

"The foundation is pleased with how much can be accomplished through a working partnership with the UK College of Nursing," said Arch G. Mainous Jr., president of the Good Samaritan Foundation.

The Center funds nurse practitioner fellowships and community health interns for primary care, community health care delivery through established agencies, and school health education programs in Lexington and the surrounding area.

"Over the past year, through the combined efforts of the Good Samaritan Foundation and the UK College of Nursing, the Good Samaritan Nurse Managed Care Center's staff provided service to more than 3,000 individuals who would not have had access to health care," said Marcia Stanhope, D.S.N., associate dean of the UK College of Nursing. "We look forward to increasing the number of individuals we serve in the future."

Other agencies that receive health services from the partnership between the Good Samaritan Foundation and the UK College of Nursing include: Lexington-based Cardinal Valley, Julia R. Ewan and Ashland elementary schools; Hope Center; Baby Health; Nathaniel Mission Health Clinic; and Mount Sterling's Post Clinic.

By Tammy Gay