When Jennifer Visbisky asked her SUNY Jamestown Community College nursing students to volunteer six hours of their time to help distribute COVID-19 vaccinations on campus earlier this year, many were hesitant at first. Already busy with a rigorous course load, they thought that time could be spent studying or with family and friends.
But by the time the two-day clinic concluded, their outlook had changed drastically.
Some students enthusiastically told stories of people who wanted to pose for a photo together as a commemoration of a moment that ended their year-long isolation from the world.
Remote Area Medical clinic coming to campus on September 11 and 12.
“They were like, ‘Wow,’” said Visbisky, JCC’s associate professor of nursing. “They saw people who were crying. They saw people who would say ‘Oh my gosh, I can actually go see my parents or grandchildren now.’
“Those are the things that make them want to go back and do it again. Those are the things that we can’t teach. We can talk about it and explain it, but until they experience it themselves, that kind of learning is much more beneficial than some of the traditional learning that takes place. I gave six hours, but in those six hours look at the difference I made in these people's lives.”
Many of the same students who helped with the vaccination point of distribution will also lend a hand at the Remote Area Medical (RAM) clinic scheduled for September 11 and 12 at JCC’s Cattaraugus County Campus in Olean, N.Y.
RAM’s pop-up clinics provide free medical, vision, and dental care to underserved and uninsured individuals on a first-come, first-served basis. Paula Snyder, executive director of JCC’s Cattaraugus Campus, and clinic co-coordinator with Bona Responds Jim Mahar, expect upward of 400 people will receive $200,000 worth of care over two days.
Visbisky said 42 sophomore nursing students from JCC are signed up to assist at the clinic as part of their clinical volunteerism hours. They may be asked to help with documenting vitals signs, performing assessments, and helping patients understand next steps in seeking healthcare outside of the clinic.
Freshmen students will help provide general volunteer support, such as registering patients, directing them where to go, and helping distribute informational resources.
“It’s beneficial for students to see how they can get involved in community service and giving back to the community,” Visbisky said. “They will see some of the different populations that our community serves, how they can meet those community needs, and how important basic healthcare, basic vision, basic dental is to those who would not have access otherwise. There are no barriers that prevent someone from getting healthcare at these clinics.”
In addition to students, JCC’s four full-time nursing instructors on the Cattaraugus County Campus are signed up to volunteer. Heather Burrell, JCC’s nursing program director, also hopes a few adjunct instructors can help out.
“By volunteering, we are role modeling and showing the students professionalism and what we want them to reflect out in the community when you are working as a nurse,” Burrell said. “Professionalism includes giving back and volunteering.”
JCC students were involved in every aspect of the vaccination clinic where 1,800 shots were administered over two days over the winter. They helped intake individuals, prepared vaccinations, inoculated patients, and monitored them afterward to ensure they didn’t have a negative reaction.
At the RAM clinic, they will be part of an operation that offers general medical exams, women’s health exams, dental cleanings, extractions and x-rays, eye exams, glaucoma testing, eyeglass prescriptions, and eyeglasses made on site. No insurance or identification is required to receive care.
Burrell said assisting with the RAM and vaccination clinics gives students an inside look at public health that they don't normally see going through an associate’s degree program.
“A lot of our experiences tend to be in the hospital setting. The experience they get is kind of limited to that,” she said. “But by being part of something like the RAM clinic, they are going to see healthcare from a whole different perspective and broaden their understanding that the patients they see in the hospital who maybe have heart disease or bad diabetes, it can be related to a lack of basic healthcare needs that they can’t get because they don’t have the financial or insurance resources.
“I think it will be nice for them to see that this is where things begin and also open their eyes to how many people in the community really can’t get access to those simple things we take for granted.”
Visbisky said that helping others is typically the greatest motivation behind one pursuing a nursing career. When the students saw the impact they had on people being vaccinated, it reinforced their decision to be a nurse. Visbisky believes that seeing people receive eyeglasses, dental work, and other care they don’t normally receive will have the same effect on students.
“That’s part of our profession,” she said. “When there is a need, we’re there to fill it. That’s part of your duty of being a healthcare professional.”
RAM is seeking more volunteers for September’s clinic. To register to help, visit volunteer.ramusa.org.