Elms College Nurses Take Caring to Another Level in Community

CHICOPEE — The ability to recognize a need in the community and seek out a way to make a difference is an integral component of not only a quality nurse, but a caring human being. That’s why, in addition to turning out well-trained, competent nurses, Elms College has been dedicated to teaching student nurses what it means to be contributing members of their community.

“It is our role as healthcare professionals to be a positive impact on those we care for,” said Amy Silvestri, co-president of the Elms College Student Nurses Assoc. (SNA). “It just makes sense for nurses to show these qualities not only in professional practice, but in our day-to-day lives, in our very own neighborhood.”

This semester, the SNA organized several special events to benefit various organizations.
“We collaborated with Baystate Health to organize our annual blood drive,” said Silvestri’s co-president, Rebecca Cao. “Forty-nine donors gave blood at Elms, and Baystate was able to collect 29 pints of blood. Baystate let us know our donations can save 58 lives in the community.”

The SNA’s bake sales benefited several children’s hospitals, including Baystate Children’s Hospital and Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. “We also sold Elms nursing clothing, merchandise, and Christmas ornaments to students. These sales, in combination with the success of past year’s SNA fund-raisers, made it possible to make the donations this semester,” Silvestri noted. Each hospital received $250.

Another event, a toy drive, collected gifts for the patients of Shriners Hospital for Children. “We collected roughly 40 gifts for Shriners Hospital,” Silvestri said. “Then the SNA contributed an additional $250 worth of toys for Shriner’s.”

Some populations in the community are in need year-round, especially during the winter months, Silvestri added. The Elms SNA donated $150 worth of non-perishable food items — about 78 pounds of food — to Lorraine’s Soup Kitchen, and $150 worth of various toiletries to Springfield Rescue Mission.

The SNA is already looking ahead to more community outreach in the next semester. One event will be a health workshop for local Girl Scout troops. “We’re working with liaison Jill Bigos, an anatomy professor at Elms, to select topics of particular importance to the troops involved,” Cao said. “We have thought about how to treat injuries for girls playing sports, including bruises, sprains, and concussions. We have also talked about maybe teaching the girls about exercise and including how to check their pulse, and healthy eating habits or nutrition.”

A bone-marrow drive is planned for Feb. 16 on the Elms campus. “This is an important event for the community, giving people waiting for life-saving bone-marrow donations more chances for bone-marrow matches to be found. With every person who registers, there is one more chance for a donor match and a life to be saved from blood cancer,” Silvestri said.

The group also plans to spend time volunteering at a local homeless shelter or soup kitchen in 2016.

Other members of the SNA executive board include treasurer Antonette Fuller and secretary Michelle Howard. The group’s faculty advisers are Jean Prast and Tracey Cobb of the School of Nursing.