HIGHER EDUCATION
Nursing Students are Tested
by the COVID‐19 Pandemic
From the classroom to the ICU, new recruits to New Jersey’s coronavirus battle
came from colleges and universities.
Compiled by Miles Z. Epstein
Editor, COMMERCE
On the front lines of the COVID‐19 pandemic,
nursing students were called
into service in every area of patient care.
They had to learn fast and risk their health to
help save friends, neighbors and total strangers
from a deadly, new virus. Here are their stories,
and a look at their journey from learner to essential
caregiver.
Berkeley College
By Eva Skuka, Ph.D., M.D.,
Dean, School of Health Studies
The Berkeley College School
of Health Studies comprises
many programs impacted by the
COVID‐19 crisis, including the
Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) to Bachelor of
Science in Nursing (BSN), Patient Care Technician,
Surgical Processing Technician, Medical
Assistant, Patient Care Technician, Practical
Nurse, Surgical Processing Technician, and
Surgical Technology programs. COVID‐19
challenged all healthcare professionals and
students to work in a totally new context. This
was uncharted territory. They faced exhaustion
due to heavy workloads and fears of becoming
infected and infecting others, while managing
work, college and family. A majority of BSN
students work in long-term care facilities as
LPNs caring for COVID‐19 patients. Some
Practical Nurse students work with afflicted
patients as nurses’ aides. When surgical procedures
were curtailed, Surgical Technology and
Surgical Processing Technician professionals
trained to assist physicians and nurses as
team members caring for COVID‐19 patients
in hospital emergency rooms, intensive care
units and other departments and facilities.
There are many risks encountered by being in
the front lines of healthcare. Our students, like
many healthcare providers and professionals,
demonstrated resilience and professional dedication
to overcome difficulties. We salute these
professionals’ compassion and kindness, along
with their expertise and courage, as we continue
to learn how to best thrive within our new
circumstances.
County College of Morris
By Dr. Anthony J. Iacono,
President
With compassion and courage, nursing students rose to the challenge.
CCM graduates are working in
healthcare facilities throughout
the county and region as nurses,
respiratory therapists and radiographers.
Included among them are two recent
graduates, Jeremy Friedland ’19, of Parsippany,
a graduate of the Nursing Program; and Melanie
New ’19, of Vernon, a graduate of the Respiratory
Therapy Program, both of whom are on
the front line of helping COVID‐19 patients at
Morristown Medical Center. Another is Cassidy
Grady ’19, of Lake Hopatcong, a graduate of the
Respiratory Therapy Program, a full-time night
respiratory therapist at Saint Barnabas Medical
Center. CCM has trained approximately half of
the nurses and roughly 90 percent of the respiratory
therapists who work in Morris County.
County College of Morris is proud to support
our healthcare providers. The college also has
donated equipment to Morristown Medical Center,
including five ventilators, 325 N95 masks
and 3,000 gloves. In addition, at the request of
Atlantic Health Systems, the college’s engineering
lab coordinator is creating face shields on
the college’s 3-D printers for healthcare workers.
The shields are being created based on specifications
provided by Atlantic Health.
Montclair State University
By Evonna Banko,
RN, BSN
I didn’t expect to be on the
front lines of the coronavirus
outbreak. A school nurse in Paterson,
I was finishing my final
classes in the RN to BSN program at Montclair
State, the end of a 20-year journey as an adult
learner who returned to school, first to learn English
when I moved to the United States from
Poland, then earning professional degrees as
I advanced in a career I love. But with schools
closed and my inbox full of e-mails pleading for
volunteers to help, I answered a call to assist at
one of the state’s drive-through COVID‐19 testing
centers and have since signed on to work
at a long-term residential care facility in Cedar
Grove, New Jersey. I have to be out there. I have
to be helping. There are not enough hands. I am
Continued On Page 36
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