By Alisa Squires, Health Content Curation Intern
My name is Alisa Squires, and I am a dual degree DNP/PhD student in the Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation at Arizona State University. After hearing about SolarSPELL from my dad, Kyle Squires, and getting to know Heather Ross, I knew I wanted to get involved with this incredible program. This summer was my first semester working with SolarSPELL, and as a registered nurse with goals of becoming a nurse practitioner and engaging in research that solves problems affecting nursing and health-related issues, the initiative’s mission and values, global impact, and fieldwork greatly interested me.
My nursing background is in labor and delivery and working on a large unit at a level I trauma center and teaching hospital showed me the importance of prioritizing evidence-based health promotion and disease prevention and management across the lifespan. Equipping patients and families with knowledge, tools, and resources that help facilitate physical, mental and emotional well-being after they leave the hospital is a goal of mine when working as a nurse.
The opportunity to join SolarSPELL’s interdisciplinary team focusing on increasing access to education, information and technology to promote the health, wellness and safety of people around the world has been very rewarding. Nurses, public health professionals, engineers, technologists, educators and designers are just a small sample of the many disciplines and professions that I have had the pleasure of interacting and collaborating with. Each brings a unique perspective, skillset, knowledge base and set of experiences to the table to best meet the needs and priorities of the communities that SolarSPELL serves.
Working as a nurse, I have learned that health care is a team sport that includes patients as active participants in their care. I appreciate that this team-based approach translates to how SolarSPELL operates in that the input of on-site and in-field partners and stakeholders are always considered. This feedback drives the continuous cycle that is the development, implementation and delivery, and evaluation phases of the libraries.
Photos courtesy of Alisa Squires
I am part of SolarSPELL’s content curation team for the health collection and specifically working on the topics of dementia and cognitive impairment. Up until this point, there has been no content in the library focused on these conditions, so I have enjoyed finding relevant, meaningful and up-to-date information related to these two areas. In addition, I have broadened my focus to select and include content for users concerning brain health.
People all over the world are living with dementia and cognitive impairment, and understanding the importance of brain health is becoming increasingly important for patients as well as current and future health care professionals. Resources that I am particularly excited to include are handouts, tip sheets and guidebooks from the World Health Organization (WHO), Alzheimer’s Association and National Institutes of Health (NIH) that provide actionable steps outlining how to prevent dementia and promote healthy brains that various SolarSPELL audiences — including community members, patients and care providers — can use and apply to their everyday lives.
As a nurse, I see myself as an advocate for the community and those that I care for. I have worked with patients from diverse backgrounds and cultures with various lifestyles and health histories. In the hospital, they present for a variety of chief complaints complicated by underlying acute and chronic medical conditions. Mental and emotional health often get neglected even though these are intertwined with physical health. I have taken care of people who, upon receiving patient-centered education following new and unexpected diagnoses, said they felt empowered to be involved in their care and advocate for their needs. They then went on to teach and inform others about their conditions.
The need for preventive care has grown, and providing culturally relevant, easily accessible and understandable information related to medical screenings, diet, exercise, and other behaviors related to health promotion is paramount. I have seen firsthand the positive impacts these have on improving patient outcomes, keeping people out of the hospital and helping health care professionals provide high-quality, safe and individualized care.
I am aiming to curate content for the health library that helps others understand the signs and symptoms, screening and prevention, and care and treatments surrounding dementia and cognitive impairment, for this information is pertinent to community members, students and health care professionals. The role of caregivers, familial and community involvement, and cultural perceptions of dementia and ways in which these impact care and quality of life for those living with cognitive impairment have been incorporated as well.
I have always been interested in the brain and improving health outcomes in communities, and my work in the DNP/PhD program focuses on increasing screening rates for dementia and cognitive impairment in community settings. Being able to apply and connect this to SolarSPELL’s health collection has been exciting. Being a nurse has taught me that knowledge is power in terms of advocating for patients to make informed decisions about their health, and I love that SolarSPELL supplies and promotes access to crucial health information while promoting digital literacy skills.
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