Tennessee Wesleyan College senior nursing students and faculty member volunteer to staff Red Cross health services clinic at Blount County Disaster Shelter during winter storm
Tennessee Wesleyan College nursing students and faculty assisted the Red Cross with providing medical care to residents in Blount County during the recent winter storms. TWC students and faculty responded to a call from the Red Cross requesting additional Registered Nurse presence at the Blount County Disaster Shelter on Wednesday, Feb. 18. The volunteers assisted the Red Cross at the Monte Vista Baptist Church.
TWC senior nursing students Kayla Snyder and Hannah Smith, as well as TWC nursing faculty member Lisa Kirkland, RN, volunteered at the shelter despite the severe weather conditions. The area experienced extremely cold temperatures, power outages, and dangerous icy conditions, making living conditions difficult for many community members. Ms. Kirkland responded to the Red Cross’s call for help to provide medical care to local residents and asked some of her students to help as well.
“When called by the local Red Cross coordinators asking me to help recruit RNs to staff the health services clinic at the shelter, I quickly realized the opportunity for me to serve in my own community and to lead by example,” Ms. Kirkland said. “What better way to reinforce lessons taught and learned in community health nursing than to practice community health nursing.”
This volunteer experience allowed the nursing students to experience real-world nursing activity, to apply what they have learned in class to patients and to help a community that was negatively impacted by the snow and ice earlier in the week.
“I was able to apply some of what we have learned in school about caring for patients during a disaster or stressful situation,” Ms. Snyder said. “We had a disaster seminar that prepared us for what goes on at a Red Cross shelter. While learning in the classroom was helpful, it was really cool to get to see the shelter in action. We learned how to manage a real life situation, and I would not have gained that experience otherwise.”
Ms. Kirkland worked at the shelter for 18 hours, while both Ms. Snyder and Ms. Smith worked 12 hours. Ms. Kirkland said this experience allowed the students to practice skills including health history, assessment, blood glucose monitoring, insulin injections, oxygen set-up and maintenance, wound care and documentation.
“I was encouraged to know the content of the Red Cross Disaster Health and Shelter simulation training that I had incorporated into the community health nursing course last semester was being implemented in real-world experiences,” Ms. Kirkland said.
This experience also allowed the students to experience firsthand how valuable an RN can be in an emergency situation, no matter the number of patients who need help.
“I learned that sometimes there can be hundreds of people and sometimes there may only be five people, but either way, help is always needed,” Ms. Smith said.