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Lees-McRae May School of Nursing and Health Sciences Donates Medical Supplies to Several High Country Medical Centers

Faculty from the Lees-McRae May School of Nursing and Health Sciences (MSONHS) pooled together extra supplies from the Hart Simulation Lab to donate to several High Country medical centers.

“As COVID-19 started marching across the world, [Dean of Nursing and Health Sciences] Dr. Kimberly Priode directed the faculty to start thinking about what supplies we could donate to our clinical partners,” Assistant Dean of Nursing and Health Sciences Dr. Teresa Darnall said.

The supplies—which included surgical masks with face shields, infectious disease kits, molded masks, both sterile and non-sterile gloves, hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, and fluid-impervious gowns—were donated to the Toe River Health District. The district is currently on the front lines for the testing and monitoring of COVID-19 in three Western North Carolina counties—Yancey, Mitchell, and Avery.

Additional supplies were also donated to other clinical partners in the High Country including the Mission Hospital System in Asheville, the Appalachian Regional Healthcare System in Boone, and Life Care Center of Banner Elk.

MSONHS Coordinator of Clinical Compliance and Student Advisement Fabienne Dellinger said that giving back to the college’s clinical partners—those that undergraduate nursing students most often complete their clinical requirements with—is just one, small way of saying thank you.

“Our partners have always been so good to help with our student placements and give our students excellent knowledge to take with them as future nurses,” she said. “As a community, we always try to come together and help out any way we can. It was nice to be able to donate things that are very critical during this crisis.”

Both Dr. Darnall and Dr. Priode shared similar sentiments in regard to giving back.

“We are nurses—it is what we do to support each other,” Dr. Darnall said. “These are our clinical partners [and in doing so] they provide a place for our students to learn how to become nurses. We are always interested in the safety and wellbeing of our nursing colleagues.”

“Faculty and staff from the May School of Nursing and Health Sciences knew that it was incumbent upon us, as health professionals, to help in every way within our power with the health crisis,” Dr. Priode said. “In these unprecedented times, it is even more crucial that our nursing and emergency medical services and management students, faculty, and staff help mitigate the pandemic as leaders and future healthcare providers and caregivers.”

Carmen Lacey, President and Chief Nursing Officer at the Charles A. Cannon Jr. Memorial Hospital in Linville (a member of the Appalachian Regional Healthcare System), shared her appreciation for the college’s donation. 

“We truly appreciate the generosity of the college,” she said. “We hope and pray that our community does not get to the point that the supplies are necessary, but know that we have them in case the need arises is very comforting.”