Student nurses gain working knowledge at Purdue Northwest
‘I just wish everyone would stop thinking that COVID is a scam, because it isn’t’
Purdue University Northwest students, faculty and staff had the chance to kick off their new semester getting themselves protected against COVID-19.
In conjunction with the School of Nursing and the Lake County Health Department, the campus, through its Vaccine Clinic, gave out first, second and booster doses of the Pfizer vaccine Jan. 10 in the Nelson Bioscience Innovation Building. With the omicron variant still marching its way across Northwest Indiana, most of the patients coming in were seeking their boosters, said Jodi Allen, assistant nursing professor and Nurse Practitioner Program coordinator.
The clinic held at least 12 vaccine clinics last year starting in April, when the vaccine became available to more people, Allen said. Those first clinics were nothing short of crazy.
“We held them for six days in April and six days in May, and we had to have vaccinated 4,000 people over those days,” she said. “In the fall, the clinics were more hit-or-miss, but we would still get around 70 to 80 people each time, and sometimes up to 150.”
Now that the new semester has started, they’re hoping to catch as many new students as they can for their first dose regimen, she said, but those seeking their boosters are just as welcome.
Allen said students in her nurse practitioner program are administering the vaccines, which is helpful in two ways: Some of her undergraduate students can practice administering shots, she said, while her Nurse Practitioner students are able to step away from the ongoing trauma of their day jobs.
“A lot of my nurses are
working bedside at hospitals, so this gives them a chance to help people while being in a safer environment,” Allen said.
Carolyn Schaffer, of Frankfort, Illinois, is one of those students. As a nurse in a step-down intensive care unit in a south suburban hospital, she described the current situation as “a nightmare.”
“Our patients are all COVID, and they’re mostly unvaccinated,” Schaffer said. “We were talking at work yesterday, and the people that come in first tell us they don’t have COVID when they clearly do, then they tell us they don’t want us treating them with what we have (remdesivir) because it can cause kidney damage. Well, a lot of treatments can cause kidney damage, so it’s like, why are you here, then?
“I just wish everyone would stop thinking that COVID is a scam, because it isn’t.”
Allen worries about her other nurses who’re back bedside but haven’t been for long periods.
“I haven’t been bedside in 10 years, and the equipment is a lot different from when I was there,” she said. “It’s hard having to train these nurses on the fly in such frightening conditions.”
Claudia Valladolid, of East Chicago and a client services representative in the Financial Aid department, debated whether she wanted first to get vaccinated, then whether to get boosted. She decided not to press her luck.
“I kept hearing that not being vaccinated makes getting it worse, so I felt like it was best to just do it,” she said. “Thankfully, I haven’t gotten it yet.”
Brother and sister Alex and Gisselle Canuto, of
Hammond, also got their boosters Monday after watching their dad go through having COVID.
“Dad didn’t really develop bad symptoms, so we’re thankful,” Gisselle Canuto said. “Our parents already got their boosters.”
Purdue Northwest will again offer vaccinations on Jan. 31; people from the community who aren’t students are encouraged to get vaccinated or boosted there if they haven’t already, PNW spokesman Kale Wilk said.