Tell us about Iona’s first cohort of nursing students.
We have 18 highly qualified nursing students from the tri-state area. Given that we announced the opening of the program less than three months ago, I expected between 8 and 12 students. Iona clearly has an amazing reputation and is beloved by students and graduates alike.
Why is Iona’s nursing program important now?
It has never been more important for Iona College to deliver nursing education. New Rochelle was the first containment zone in the United States. Our city lived through some harrowing times, and now New Rochelle is a model for best community practices in how to manage and survive a pandemic. In this year of the nurse, nurses did a lot of the heavy lifting.
How does our program differ from other programs?
Iona’s nursing program was designed with an intention of care. Now, all nursing programs will say that. But here at Iona, our program requires that students and faculty co-create a program that is steeped in the care of the spirit, the mind and the body, and that we care for one another first so that we can authentically care for others.
What have some of your most rewarding experiences been?
The best part of being a nurse is that there is not one day of your life that goes by where you are not contributing to someone’s life in some way. I have held hands, delivered news good and bad, put smiles on people’s faces, ushered folks into life and gentled them into death.
In a word, how would you describe nurses?
Indispensable.
As a teacher, what are some of the most important lessons you share with your students?
Be gentle with yourself; be enormously proud of yourself for making the choice to do something so important with your life; have fun! Oh, and of course, never say, “Well today is a quiet day!”
What have you been thinking as you watch nurses work with such dedication during the pandemic?
We have been touted as heroes, angels, frontline fighters. COVID-19 didn’t make us those things; we have always been heroes, angels, and frontline fighters. But COVID-19, strangely enough, has given us the “press;” COVID-19 has shown our nation who we really are and who we have always been.
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