Students in URI’s R.N.-to-B.S. program renovate clinic ?

PROVIDENCE – Three URI nursing students recently renovated a treatment room and did the necessary administrative work to create a new and improved clinic at the Providence Rescue Mission.

One of the three, Charlie Speziale, had been given the chance to see the room and knew immediately that it would not suffice for treating patients in a dignified, safe, and pleasant setting.

“This project is what community health is all about, drawing on life experiences and strengths to improve care and treatment,” Speziale said.

Speziale, a trained carpenter as well as a current nursing student, invested $2,000 of his own money on the building supplies.

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His partners in the project, Regina Monteiro and Joanne Czerwein, both also URI nursing students, did the administrative work.

For Speziale, the project entailed renovating the room from top to bottom, first gutting it, then putting up new walls and doors, then installing a drop ceiling and new wiring, and, lastly, refinishing the floor.

For Monteiro and Czerwein, their work was setting up a pair of flu clinics as well as collecting the myriad health forms required for patients.

“We all had our jobs to do,” Czerwein said. “No one person could have done this.”

The clinic treats the 120 or so men and women who live at the shelter as well as individuals living in the neighborhood, among the poorest parts of Providence.

URI’s College of Nursing donated some medical supplies, but more would be appreciated. To donate money or medical supplies to the clinic, please call URI assistant nursing professor Rebecca Carley at 401-480-8563.

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