Open Letter from Nursing Students, Gina Crincoli, Shelley Adams, Dawn Stone, Beth Gunnet, Aida Galvan, and David Varettoni, May 12, 2004.

As nursing students, we are rewired to think independently, but at the same time, think of others. We have been called upon during our last year of nursing school to engage ourselves in our community, somehow, some way. Only catch was that we were being graded on it.

So, one would begin to think that since our grade depended on our service learning project, we may not have put our heart into it. Maybe we just wanted to get it over with; or maybe we did not truly care about the cause. But you are wrong.

Beginning in January 2004, we were instructed that the nursing class was going to participate in a grant given to the school by the Community College National Center for Community Engagement. We were selected, out of seven other colleges across the nation, to receive part of a $45,000 grant to improve and expand on initiatives aimed at promoting homeland security and emergency preparedness. As the weeks passed and we still did not have a project, out from the sky (well, not really) an article appeared at our doorstep in the Courier News, “Somerset seeking first-aid experts” (February 2003). Interested in learning more about the program within the article, the Medical Reserve Corps of Somerset County, we began our service learning and civic engagement.

The Medical Reserve Corps is one of several components of Citizen Corps, USA Freedom Corps. It is a network of community-based, citizen volunteer Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) units, which have been established by people for use in their communities. The MRC units provide health professionals and others an organized mechanism through which they can volunteer their time and skills. This allows them to strengthen their communities by preparing for and responding to large-scale emergencies, natural or man- made, such as influenza or smallpox epidemic, chemical spill, or acts of terrorism.

The MRC of Somerset County was brand new and searching for help. Nursing students to the rescue! We provide this unit with a voice in our college and in our community. We held a Community Awareness and Recruitment Day on April 2, 2004 for anyone interested in learning more about the MRC program in Somerset County and even had people fill out applications. We worked with Lucille Young-Talbot, the MRC coordinator, to make flyers and posters to use at subsequent events.

Together, we have learned how to network. We have learned how to take nothing and turn it into something just by using our individual knowledge and personal contacts. We worked collaboratively and on a deadline. We each took responsibility for a part of the puzzle and when we put it all together, we created a beautiful work of art. We are proud of what we have accomplished and hope that the next generation of nursing students can continue taking on service learning projects to better themselves and learn how they truly are an integral part of their community.

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