To help ensure that older New Yorkers avoid
the flu this winter, 45 NYU College of Nursing
students lent a hand at more than a dozen
flu shot clinics during November. The volunteer
effort was conceived by Carrie D’Andrea,
an NYU nursing student who, as part of her
nursing leadership class, is working at the
Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY)
Flu Vaccine Initiative to fulfill the clinical
requirements of the class. One of Ms. D’Andrea’s
first responsibilities at VNSNY was to recruit
some extra hands for the flu vaccine initiative.
By sending out an email, she found more willing
classmates than she had imagined. Students
who volunteer have been able to receive both
credit for the volunteer hours and a free
flu shot.
With more students volunteering each day, the NYU students have
cut the waiting time for older adults seeking flu shots and have
assisted them in filling out considerable paperwork. Moreover,
in the course of conducting health screenings to ensure that patients
would not suffer adverse reactions from the vaccine, nursing students
have been able to refer several individuals for needed health care.
“Nursing students have helped tremendously in protecting
the community from a virus that kills about 36,000 people in the
United States each year,” says Noreen Brennan, clinical coordinator
for the Leadership Class. “In addition to providing health
screening, students have helped keep things organized at the sites
and made the experience pleasant for the recipients. Most students
are also getting a free flu shot at the clinics and it’s
exciting to know that we are able to increase the immunizations
in our student population, especially as they go to work with ill
patients at other sites in their community.”
The students have worked at sites run in the Manhattan neighborhoods
of Harlem, Washington Heights, Morningside Heights, the Upper West
Side, East and West Villages, Chelsea, Times Square, Lower East
Side, Flatiron District, and in Staten Island. Clinics have been
held in large residential complexes, single-room occupancy buildings
that house formerly homeless people, and naturally occurring retirement
communities. Says Ms. D’Andrea, “The older people receiving
flu vaccines have appreciated the opportunity to get some help
with the forms and have really enjoyed talking with the nursing
students.”
“This project has opened my eyes to community health and
wellness, and to the importance of immunizing as many people as
possible,” she adds. “Many of the nursing students
have had the same response.”
