Photo courtesy Diana Costello.
More than 550 individuals are now protected against Covid-19 thanks to students in the Iona College nursing program. Describing the opportunity to serve their community as both emotional and historic, students said they were grateful for the hands-on experience gained through the pandemic.
“It feels humbling,” said student Nico O”™Leary ”™21, of New Rochelle. “This has been a horrible year for everyone. So, the fact that we”™re able to give back in this way is enormous.”
Iona”™s new Bachelor of Science degree program in nursing offers two pathways to a bachelor”™s degree: a traditional four-year undergraduate program; and an accelerated, 15-month, second-degree program for students who already have a bachelor”™s in another field. Iona accepted its first class of 18 elite, accelerated-degree students in the fall of 2020 and already nursing is the most sought-after program for the fall of 2021.
Dr. Sandra Dav̩, director of IonaӪs Nursing Clinical Arts Center, enlisted the help of students to administer the Covid-19 vaccine over a series of six clinics she set up in her private practice. Dav̩ has been practicing as a family and gerontological nurse practitioner with her husband in New Rochelle for more than 20 years. She started working at Iona in New Rochelle when the nursing program was launched.
