Hartnell College Students’ Role in Vaccination is "All Hands on Deck"

Participation by scores of Hartnell College nursing students in administering the COVID-19 vaccine in Monterey County and educating residents on the need for vaccination will soon expand to include the school’s respiratory care and EMT programs. The role of vocational and registered nursing students, which began in December, will grow exponentially in coming weeks as the college assists Clinica de Salud del Valle de Salinas (CSVS) in giving 4,500 vaccine doses to agricultural workers and other high-priority groups. Dr. Sonja Sheppard, who is coordinating the collaboration in her job as associate director of nursing and allied health, said nursing students continue to answer the call. They earn clinical hours that count toward their graduation but are not paid for their work. Many have completed multiple shifts — providing information, giving injections, screening vaccine recipients or observing for adverse effects after the shots. “I’ve been really touched by their response,” Dr. Sheppard said. “One student told me, ‘The more people we vaccinate in our community, the higher the chances of eradicating this COVID.’” The pandemic’s expanding public health demands will soon extend to all Hartnell students studying to be health care providers, she said. The need is especially great for student volunteers who speak both English and Spanish, given the prevalence of Spanish-first speakers within the county’s large Latinx community. “I’m asking that every program support it at some level,” Dr. Sheppard said, “even the respiratory care students, who might not have been trained in how to do injections yet, can participate in some capacity. “There’s a way for every student to support this effort, especially looking at the volume we need to do. We need all hands on deck.” Clinic director says students are ‘critical’ Erica Padilla-Chavez, president of the Hartnell Community College District Governing Board, said the students are making a historic contribution in their own communities. “There can be no better evidence of just how important our students and graduates are to the health and well-being of people in Monterey County and beyond,” Padilla-Chavez said. “We at Hartnell are all very proud and grateful for their service, which at the same time hones their skills.” Dr. Raúl Rodríguez, interim superintendent/president, added his own thanks to college staff and faculty and to community partners like CSVS, who have forged lasting and mutually rewarding relationships. “Under normal circumstances, these connections are of enormous benefit to our students and also a key resource for clinics, hospitals and other providers,” Dr. Rodríguez said. “During this pandemic, they have been absolutely essential.” That point was echoed by Vicki Sinnhuber, director of nursing at CSVS, which operates 11 clinics in the Salinas Valley, including two dental clinics, as well as having capacity for mobile clinics. She said involvement by Hartnell nursing students is “critical” as her agency prepares to deliver about 500 doses of COVID-19 vaccine a week. “They’re getting a lot of experience, so they’ll be expert shot-givers by the time that they’re done,” Sinnhuber said. “It also improves their communication skills in terms of patient information and making sure that what they (recipients) are getting is understood.” Students deliver vaccine and provide information Since December, Hartnell students have already worked with CSVS to vaccinate about 1,400 first responders, and they have administered to employees and others at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital in Salinas and at Mee Memorial Hospital in King City. On Feb. 25, students helped staff a CSVS vaccination clinic for more than 300 agricultural workers over age 65 at a D’Arrigo California facility in Salinas. They are scheduled to do so again on Feb. 27 at the CSVS clinic on North Main Street in Salinas. They also are preparing to assist the Monterey County Visiting Nurses Association with vaccination events in Gonzales on March 2 and at St. Mary’s Church in Salinas on March 5 and will staff vaccine events for the Soledad Medical Clinic on March 8 and March 11-12. Hartnell students also have presented information about the vaccine to groups of agricultural workers, beginning with employees at facilities of grower-shipper Taylor Farms in Salinas, San Juan Bautista and Gonzales. Similar presentations are planned at D’Arrigo California locations, starting March 2, and other companies may invite Hartnell’s help in the future. ‘This is going to help everybody’ Starting at 6:30 a.m. on Feb. 23 at the Taylor Farms Retail production center in Gonzales, second-year registered nursing student Alvaro Hernandez-Torres made several solo presentations to a total of 550 workers. A second student was scheduled to join him but couldn’t make it. The Taylor Farms workers, warmly dressed for jobs inside the refrigerated plant, sat outside on widely spaced folding chairs to listen to the 20-minute briefing before heading inside to begin their shifts. Several of them posed questions related to the goal of achieving herd immunity and its value for family members, as well as the varied types of coronavirus vaccine. Hernandez-Torres, who is from Watsonville, practiced his presentation at home and created flash cards so he would be sure to include everything students were asked to cover. Having earlier volunteered to administer the vaccine, he said presenting to such a large group strengthens his public speaking skills, which are important for health education and possibly in future leadership roles. Hernandez-Torres said that most of all, he wanted to reassure workers about the importance of being vaccinated and allay any fears or misconceptions they might have. “I think just by giving them all the facts we can remind them that in the end this is going to help everybody,” he said.