“We really appreciate you so much. You are the frontline workers.” Madeline Hlavaty, a University of Missouri–St. Louis nursing student graduating this May, is replaying this statement in her head. She’s remembering what a man said to her after she administered a COVID-19 vaccine to him. “I never considered myself a frontline worker until then,” she says. “But we are giving the vaccinations and trying to fight this.”
Starting last week, Hlavaty, along with other UMSL Bachelor of Science in Nursing students, began vaccinating St. Louisans across the region as part of a new program. The students are volunteering in groups of eight under the supervision of UMSL faculty members at places like BJC Health’s Christian Hospital Northeast, SSM Health DePaul Hospital, and St. Louis County Public Health Department.
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On her first day, Hlavaty arrived at BJC Health’s Christian Hospital Northeast at 7:30 a.m., where the students (who are vaccinated and must pass the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) educational module about the COVID-19 vaccines) were debriefed. First, a pharmacist gave a demonstration, reminding the students what to do and what not to do. At 11 a.m., Hlavaty started vaccinating people, often giving them their second dosage.
“I was so nervous at first,” she says. “I was, like, ‘Oh, my gosh. This is it. They have no idea we are just learning how to do all of this stuff.”
By using nursing students, the region’s health care networks will be able to facilitate a much larger number of vaccinations, notes Diane Saleska, an assistant teaching professor at UMSL. That’s why in December, she spoke with Dr. Alexander Garza, chief community health officer and leader of the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force, about how training student nurses could be a “great use of manpower to get the vaccines out to the people.” Saleska says Garza then connected her with SSM Health, who were in the middle of vaccinating their employees at the time. They arranged for UMSL faculty to observe the process so they could understand it and better prepare their students. Then, in January, she and a group of four visited St. Mary’s to participate in the vaccine clinic. They took the information back to Shawne M. Manies, director of the school’s BSN accelerated nursing program, who coordinates the clinical placements for the student nurses. Manies then contacted health care providers, such as SSM Health, BJC Healthcare, and Mercy, letting them know the students’ availability for the program.
Using the students is cost-effective and gives the young nurses an opportunity to gain practical experience. “This really helps to show our students how nurses step up to the plate when there’s a larger societal need,” Saleska said in a statement. They’re engaging with the community by educating the public about the vaccines and what it takes to keep residents safe and healthy—all hallmarks of their profession. But the program also shows the community that UMSL’s nurses are not just sitting in-class learning—they are serving the community’s real-life needs.
On site, the nursing students are fielding questions about the vaccines and ensuring each person’s information is logged. Hlavaty remembers one woman she saw, in particular, who was just one month away from her 100th birthday and eager to get her vaccine. “I got a chance to talk to each patient after they got their vaccination and many of them expressed, ‘I didn’t feel it’ and ‘This is what the media was talking about?’” she says. “It’s simple and quick.”
As Missouri still struggles to roll out its vaccinations, these students and instructors will not be on every site every day but are scheduled for multiple days a week at sites with back-up groups planned in case someone cannot make it. “We plan to stay at this pace the whole semester,” Manies says.
