[box]pictured: Quinnipiac University physician assistant students Emma Banks, left, Madeline Santiago, Stephanie Lenihan, Sarah Normandin and Jessie Dorne wrap shoe boxes as part of Operation Christmas Child.[/box]
North Haven, Conn. – Nov. 29, 2011 – Nurse practitioner and physician assistant students at Quinnipiac University recently filled 60 shoe boxes with holiday gifts for Samaritan Purse’s Operation Christmas Child.
“Operation Christmas Child brings joy and hope to children in desperate situations around the world through gift-filled shoe boxes,” said Cindy Lord, director of the physician assistant program in the School of Health Sciences.
The nurse practitioner and physician assistant students filled shoe boxes with small toys, school and personal supplies, other gifts and personal notes. They also collected donations to cover shipping costs. The shoe boxes will be distributed to children around the world for Christmas.
The shoe box campaign coincided with National Nurse Practitioner Week, Nov. 14-18. In addition to collecting donations for Operation Christmas Child, the nurse practitioner students took blood pressures, checked blood sugar levels and distributed information on a variety of health issues, including cardiac disease, diabetes and breast health at a screening event held on Quinnipiac’s North Haven Campus.
Quinnipiac is a private, coeducational, nonsectarian institution located 90 minutes north of New York City and two hours from Boston. The university enrolls more than 6,000 full-time undergraduate and more than 2,000 graduate students in 53 undergraduate and more than 20 graduate programs of study in its School of Business, School of Communications, School of Education, School of Health Sciences, School of Law, School of Nursing, The Frank H. Netter, M.D., School of Medicine, and College of Arts and Sciences. Quinnipiac consistently ranks among the top regional universities in the North in U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best Colleges issue. The 2009 issue of U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best Colleges named Quinnipiac as the top up-and-coming school with master’s programs in the Northern Region. Quinnipiac also is recognized in Princeton Review’s “The Best 376 Colleges.” For more information, please visit www.quinnipiac.edu. Connect with Quinnipiac on Facebook at www.facebook.com/