Mercy Mondays: Celebrating service advocate Julia Delmastro ’23
The Center for Community Service and Engagement is highlighting one of its student service advocates during the month of May. The service advocates program offers outstanding students the opportunity to participate in long-term civic engagement and service, providing students with the knowledge, skills and experiences necessary to become active leaders. To learn more, go here.
Service Advocate: Julia Delmastro ’23
As a service advocate at the Edward King House Senior Center in Newport, Rhode Island, Julia Delmastro ’23, a nursing major, continues to make an impact and impression on older adults.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Delmastro offered onsite hand care services to older adults. This hand care service was extremely beneficial to older adults dealing with arthritis, as Delmastro’s program consisted of massages of the hands, filing of nails and nail polish if requested. More importantly, she offered a smile, companionship and made connections with older adults.
During the pandemic, the Edward King House had to pivot to remote programming. This meant that Delmastro wouldn’t be able to interact in person with older adults.
“While Julia was saddened by this, she quickly demonstrated resiliency and innovation,” described Dr. Anna Matos-Mournighan, assistant director at the Edward King House. “Julia asked if she could launch a virtual meditation program and run it herself: Midday Meditation with Julia. She leads participants through a weekly, guided meditation using ZOOM. Participants comment on how they are soothed by Julia’s calming voice and utilize the weekly meditation techniques in their daily lives.”
In her spare time, Delmastro also volunteers as an emergency medical technician (EMT). Her passion for community outreach, her persistent work ethic and respect continue to be a positive influence in the lives of others. Not only is Delmastro enthusiastic about the field of nursing, but she has the mindset to be innovative, the ability to organize her peers to help others and the stamina to successfully balance all her endeavors.
Salve Serves blog
The Center of Community Service and Engagement has a blog called Salve Serves, where it will be highlighting service stories on a regular basis. They will be sharing blogs written by current students, alumni and community partners.
This post is part of an ongoing series called Mercy Mondays that highlights Salve Regina’s dedication to its Mercy Mission. Search the tag Mercy Mission for more updates on the Mercy branches of Salve Regina.
