Why Service Learning is Necessary in SHP
Service learning is essential in SHP because it bridges academic knowledge with real-world experience, fostering personal growth, civic responsibility, and professional development. It connects academic theory with hands-on community engagement, strengthening student development and healthcare impact.
By collaborating with organizations like Firehouse Shelter and United Ability, students in SHP programs gain practical experience in addressing health disparities, reinforcing the importance of early intervention and patient-centered care. This aligns perfectly with the goal of building a resilient healthcare workforce through structured mentorship and evidence-based stress management techniques.
HRP 210 – Social Determinants of Health in Alabama
Dr. Samantha Giordano-Mooga
This course focuses on the role of the social determinants of health and their impacts on the Alabama Community. Students learn from leaders in the healthcare field regarding the barriers and advantages Alabama has in regard to health and wellness. Students discuss the social determinants and their role in our community using current events and also volunteer in the community through service-learning.
HRP 475 – Service-learning in Greece
Dr. Samantha Giordano-Mooga and Kristin Chapleau
This course focused on the differences in health and wellness in rural Greece (Ikaria, a blue zone, with one of the worlds oldest healthiest populations) and rural Alabama. As part of the course, our students conducted a service-learning project with a local Greek humanitarian group, Humanity Greece. This is a homegrown organization, which responds to challenges faced by Greeks, including wildfires that destroyed rural farming towns, the large homeless population in Athens, and other needs as they arise. Our students focused organizing a food bank and helping determine the needs for the organization moving forward.
- Student passing water pallets in a fireman formation.
- 2 images - one of students listening to a teacher, the other a gray statue of a muscular man with laurels.
- Students in aprons and hats posing in a kitchen.
- Multiple people in full beekeeper outfits.
- Students posing in front of ruins with columns (possibly the Parthenon)
- A group of students posing in a modern building hallway.