Alia Anderson is a senior in her last semester of the nursing program at BYU–Idaho. One of the nursing program requirements is to do a service that fulfils a certain amount of hours, focused on a disparity group in the community.
Anderson decided to do a service project to help lift her local community. To do this, she set up a booth in the Hyrum Manwaring Student Center on Dec. 2–4 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. to give students the opportunity to make care packages and write notes for those at the Huntsman Cancer Institute.
Anderson said that she wanted to help cancer patients because she feels that it’s a prevalent and growing issue.
When she decided that she wanted to help cancer patients, she got in contact with the Huntsman Cancer Institute. Their main campus is in Salt Lake City, where they do research and treatments. They also have an association with Madison Memorial Hospital in Rexburg where they treat patients.
“I’m having people stop and put together a care package,” Anderson said. “Most of these patients are adults and so they’ll probably also send them to Primary Children’s. It’s just the kind of stuff they might forget in between their treatments, while they're traveling.”
She also has some short letters for the patients and the staff, which she is planning on dropping off at Madison Memorial Hospital and then she will take the rest to Salt Lake.
“There is so many opportunities to serve in the nursing program that I’ve been really thankful for... It’s brought a lot of awareness to me about the community and issues that Madison County and other communities face,” Anderson said. “I’m just thankful for that opportunity and hope people can find a way to do the same.”
To spread awareness, she made some key chains and pamphlets for the students who come by.
Chacon is a friend of Anderson's who is in the same nursing program and also a senior. She did her project on child maltreatment. Chacon found purpose in helping others through her own project and while helping her classmate.
“I would say that although this community project was super overwhelming at times, I’m super grateful for the opportunity to help out with the other nursing students projects like Alia’s, just to be able to learn more about the Madison community and just help with disparity groups that I was able to research,” said Chacon.
The Huntsman Cancer Institute is a national cancer institute located at the University of Utah devoted to researching and treating cancer. They also help treat patients in Rexburg at Madison Memorial Hospital. Through this website you can access a free online cancer learning center that anyone can use.
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