Campus, community health heroes

His video, along with others in the #WhyIWearMyMask series, was produced by students in this year’s Nursing Care of Populations: Family and Community course as a way to share relevant information about COVID-19 and connect with campus and community.

In a typical year, the senior-level course provides students clinical experience and an opportunity to serve the community. In the wake of COVID-19, the course took on a whole new meaning and a greater sense of urgency. The Zanesville Campus’ 32 Bachelor of Science in Nursing students rose to the challenge, providing educational messaging and preventative care to all corners of the community, often in partnership with the Zanesville-Muskingum County Health Department.

“The students have been the heroes of this semester,” says Associate Professor of Nursing Christy Vickers, who teaches the community health nursing course. “They’ve learned firsthand how they can help and give hope to their communities.”

At the start of the fall semester, the students worked alongside the campus’ administration to hand-deliver personal protective equipment (PPE) to fellow students and answer questions about coronavirus safety precautions. Shortly thereafter, they began clinical rotations at Rambo Memorial Health Center and the local Salvation Army, where they administered flu shots and provided pre-vaccine counseling.

Josie Evans, BSN ’21, says that talking with patients during their flu vaccination was an amazing opportunity to educate them about COVID-19 transmission and answer questions about the vaccines that were being developed to prevent it.

“Those experiences helped us because when we get into our full-time nursing roles, we’ll still be dealing with COVID-19,” Evans says. “I feel prepared to help fight this virus, educate people and get through it alongside them.”

Throughout the course, the students took advantage of opportunities to not only connect with individual patients, but also with the community as a whole.

For Robbins, the experience of working with a wide breadth of people—from elementary students in Zanesville City Schools to elderly patients—taught him the value of being a trusted resource for all types of health needs. He says that working with his neighbors and community members during the pandemic showed him the important role empathy plays in providing the best care possible.

“We, as community health nurses, can make a monumental difference—with everything from small personal interactions to large campaigns—to help thousands of people,” Robbins adds.

As this unprecedented school year comes to a close, Vickers says that she’ll remember this year’s community health course not by its limitations, but by the way that her students worked together to become more adaptable and collaborative nurses.

“Wherever nurses find themselves working during this pandemic, it is truly a necessity to not work as an island, but as a team,” Vickers says. “We strive to teach our students the importance of being flexible, resilient, and to show a lot of grace.”

With the clinical and outreach lessons fresh in their minds, Vickers’ senior students will prepare to graduate this spring and begin their full-time nursing careers. Some students, like Robbins, hope to continue their crucial work in the Zanesville community, where hospital systems are still struggling with the influx of COVID-19 patients.

Read more about how Ohio University’s regional campuses have taken leadership roles in their respective communities as part of the coronavirus pandemic response, from hosting COVID-19 testing clinics to helping administer vaccines.

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