School of Health and Human Services Blog

“Bridge the Gap in Health, No Matter What the Wealth” SHHS Students help run the Health Fair open to the public [Photo credit to Phil Oels] For the second year in a row, National University (NU) School of Health and Human Services (SHHS) recognized and celebrated National Public Health Week (NPHW). To assist in reaching the NPHW goal of “Healthiest Nation 2030”, the SHHS Center of Excellence Community Engagement Core launched a multicultural health and career fair. Understanding that bridging the gap in health will require efforts and collaboration from many sectors, NU faculties partnered with community health students, nursing students, the NU library, NU student services, NU career services, and key members from the community in order to deliver an event, which celebrated both diversity and health. The event included health promotion activities such as integrated health, focusing on equine therapy, providing instruction on “Hands Only CPR”, career services, kids zone pr...

SHHS Faculty member Dr. David Lemberg's newest book is out!  The 96 page book, Entitled Taking Care at the End of Life: Five Steps to Writing a Meaningful and Practical Advance Directive is a guide through the process of designing and creating an important health document.  As the U.S. and world population continues to age well, the issue of how to properly prepare you and your loved ones for a time when you can no longer make decisions for yourself is critically important.  Each chapter of the book ends with a personal reflection and action steps to help the reader properly prepare an advance directive.  Dr. Lemberg has been an Associate Faculty Member for over 8 years in the Department of Community Health.  He has taught numerous courses in the SHHS including Statistics, Healthcare Law & Ethics, and Legal/Ethical Issues & Health Promotion.  Dr. Lemberg is the founding editor of Bioethics Today and has given numerous speeches and interviews to...

On an unusual rainy day in San Diego, talk show host, actor, producer, and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey gave an address to the National University Community.  Students were front and center for the address given at the Sanford Center on April 7th. The talk was streamed live to our California campuses and to the web.  Born into poverty to a single mother in rural Mississippi, Winfrey later moved to Milwaukee and then to Tennessee.  There she was offered an on-air job at a local radio station.  Winfrey later moved to Baltimore to co-anchor the news and start a talk show which was soon renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show and broadcast nationally. Her show remains to this day the highest-rated talk show in American television history.  Ms. Winfrey remains a powerhouse in the media, maintaining an intimate talk show format and an active website and magazine.  Oprah took questions from students after an hour talk on living your best life for the greater.

SHHS faculty came together at their annual school retreat in March to begin the work of becoming the first Planetree designated University.  The faculty were joined by administration, staff and students in talks and workshops facilitated by Health Sciences Professor Ellen Kaye Gehrke with members of the Planetree executive team (Randy Carter, Senior Vice-President and Tracy Walsh,  Experience Advisor).  Preliminary reports of a gap analysis completed in February were presented and several successful team building exercises were given.  The media has picked up the story here .  Stay tuned for more announcements and updates on this important project as National University's School of Health and Human Services works to transform how we train health care professionals!

The flexible, fast paced, adult centered education at National University is reaping rewards beyond getting that quality degree fast. You can get well and get that degree as reported by NBC 7 San Diego:

Wranglers and Horses Help Veterans Heal Many veterans face problems associated with transitioning from military to civilian life. There is a need for more integrative health approaches that treat the psychosocial and embodied aspects of combat veterans “re-booting” into civilian life. One approach includes horsemanship training to help veterans better empower themselves both physically and mentally.  This approach was developed into the Heart of Horsemanship (HOH), an eight-week horsemanship program with combat veterans living in a residential treatment facility.  The hope is that the program could improve quality of life indicators and the stress response of participants. The program is the focus of SHHS faculty member Dr. Ellen Kaye Gehrke's current research and community outreach  featured before  in the school's blog. Dr. Kaye Gehrke was joined this fall by fellow SHHS faculty members Peggy Ranke and Michael Myers and College of Letters and Scien...

The SHHS Gets to Work on a  Mobile Health Clinic as it  Wins its Second Million Dollar U.S. Department of Health &Human Services Grant! Winter may have just started, but the SHHS has had a busy fall with the announcement of another large grant from the Federal Government.  Details were released to the community in a National University Press Release .  The initiative is led by the Dean, Dr. Gloria McNeal, with a team from all over the school.  The clinic will be based out of Los Angeles and will serve some of the most undeserved patients in the country. The clinic will have virtual components and will move to where it is needed in the community.  Patient care is changing across the U.S. , and our school will be part of that change.  Nursing is at the center of the clinic, but the approach will be inter-professional, utilizing all three SHHS departments and nearly a dozen different programs.  Th...