Community Baby Shower

FALL 2021

​

​The Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professions invited expectant mothers to our Tiny Cubs community baby shower event on November 6th, 2021 at Harrison Hall on UNA’s campus. This was a free community event where mothers-to-be learned about basic prenatal and baby care information from senior level nursing students, clinical supervisors, and faculty from the Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professions. Participants received a free gift bag and had opportunities to win items such as car seats, pack-n-plays, breast pumps, and more. Several local facilities including North Alabama Medical Center, Helen Keller Hospital, and Shoals Women’s Clinic also contributed to this event. Funding for this event was received from an Alabama State Nurses Association and Alabama Nurses Foundation community grant and from the Jesse Barnes Edwards Endowed Professorship.

​

“As a labor and delivery nurse for 10 years, I am very passionate about improving perinatal care throughout our community. We identified a need to offer a free education event to expectant mothers where we will review basic perinatal and neonatal care. Additionally, we were excited to offer a service learning opportunity to our nursing students.”

-Mrs. Melissa DeFoor, Assistant Department Chair of Undergraduate Programs

​

“The benefits of service based learning is so vital for nursing students.  It is a phenomenal way to learn, grow, and interact with each other, the community, and patient populations in a fun, experiential way.” Dr. Ann-Marie Irons

 “The community baby shower has been a dream of ours (Melissa and Ann-Marie) for such a long time. Faculty are excited and want to continue the UNA tradition of inviting our community to experience how wonderful our student body is in their knowledge and caring attitudes.” Dr. Ann-Marie Irons

​

“I attended the "baby shower" event organized by the Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professions for expectant parents.  The UNA student nurses, under faculty supervision, held this wonderful event.  It was fantastic.  First, the decor was so beautiful! Next, the students and instructors were energetic, kind, and welcoming.  I learned so much!  There were educational stations which were extremely informative such as baby care, breastfeeding, safety, pregnancy, labor and nutrition. And at each station you got a gift for you or your baby. In addition to learning so much, the event was fun!  ACONHP had organized so many door prizes all of which are needed by expectant parents (strollers, car seats, and much more) and I actually won one! Everyone was smiling as they learned and had their names called for prizes.  What a wonderful day. I would 100% recommend attending this event!” -Kaitlin Dennis Garcia (Fall 2021 Participant)