CNHP Steps UP: COVID-19 Response

USI Vaccination Clinics
Shawna Haywood, Nursing Instructor, prepares to give USI Math major, and a student worker in the College of Nursing and Health Professions, Lauren Mygatt, her first COVID-19 vaccine shot. Several faculty and staff members from the College worked the USI Vaccination Clinics, held April 7-9 and April 28-30. Students, employees and community family members received the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in an effort to vaccinate as many students as possible and send them home safe after the Spring Semester.

USI Presidential Task Force on COVID-19
Several people from the College of Nursing and Health Professions are serving on the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 to monitor the coronavirus and work on strategies to mitigate risks on USI’s campus during this pandemic. Their work, after the shutdown in March 2020, successfully and safely allowed students and employees to return to campus in a modified format without major spread of infection within the campus community. Some of the CNHP representatives on the task force shared their insights and thoughts about the pandemic.

Julie St. Clair, Clinical Assistant Professor of Nursing
Since my background is in public health nursing, I was excited to be serving on the Task Force. I hoped that my experience and perspective would be useful in the process of providing a safe and healthy environment for students and our workforce as we navigated through the pandemic in shutdown and as we reopened. It was also an honor to be asked to serve in this capacity as a representative of our College.

I think we have done an excellent job in communicating among ourselves and for advising safe protocols for  the USI community I am proud to be part of the group that strives to do what is best for the common good, that believes in implementing evidence-based practices for safety and shows respect for each other.

Dr. Tracy Kinner, Clinical Assistant Professor of Nursing
I am happy to be able to offer my clinical knowledge as a practicing nurse practitioner in the urgent care setting to the USI community. I feel theOperations/Logistics Committee focuses on how to keep the USI family safe and how to implement the necessary safety measures to protect the USI family from COVID. 

As a family nurse practitioner with a background in primary care and emergency room, with a current practice environment of urgent care, I have practical clinical experience which helps inform the committee about what health issues, concerns and treatments I see when patients first present and are ill with COVID.  

Dr. Swateja Nimkar, Associate Professor of Health Services
I was a part of two subcommittees (on the Academic Affairs Committee) that focused on the safe return to campus and Fall instructional options. The main goal was to strike the right balance between continuing to offer quality education and a low-risk campus environment.

This task was especially interesting because of my public health background and that I could use it to benefit the USI community during these unprecedented times.

Joy Cook, Associate Professor and Chair of Radiologic and Imaging Sciences
I was part of the academic affairs team that helped draft recommendations for the Steering Committee regarding most aspects dealing with academics on campus: the University schedule and timing of when classes would start and end, how the Summer courses would look; classes and structure for them (online, hybrid).

I think the committee’s work was invaluable because we were able to provide research evidence about what happened on our own campus during Spring 2020 and used that information to make informed decisions about Fall 2020. We were also able to gather data on what other institutions in Indiana, the United States and internationally were doing for returning to campus.

The plan to reopen campus came together with representatives from different areas across campus collaborating to make sure the needs of the campus as a whole community would be met. We considered many different needs from many different areas and came up with solutions that were reasonable for all.