‘Resilient’ Practical Nursing Grads Aid Vaccination Efforts

CREST HAVEN – Cape May County’s newest practical nurses, enduring rigorous coursework made more difficult by a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, earned their nursing pins Aug. 16.
At Cape May County Technical High School, under the Scrivani Gym’s buzzing fluorescent lights, in front of family and friends, the 23-student group graduated from Cape May County Technical School District’s practical nursing program, in the district’s 59th graduation and lamp lighting ceremony. The eventreturned indoors this year, after being held in the school’s parking lot, in 2020, to ensure proper social distancing was met during the Covid pandemic’s early months. 
Dressed in nursing gowns like those worn by previous classes, the graduates were given their diplomas and pinned by a family member or friend just after 11 a.m., followed by reciting the Nightingale Pledge in unison, a tradition of practical nursing graduates before them.
This year’s class began their coursework during the middle of the Covid pandemic, when vaccinations remained a distant hope and economic interruption continued harming everyday life. Unlike the class of 2020, whose lectures neared an end when the coronavirus began forcing alterations, this year’s students started their call to the practical nursing profession at a period when health care workers became front-line heroes for patients and overwhelmed hospitals. The course’s instructors and students needed to get creative with the program’s curriculum. Everyone, especially the students, persevered, with instructor Kelly Edelman, MSN, RN, CRRN, CBIS, deeming them “resilient.”
“In true nursing fashion, you have all risen to a challenge and won,” Edelman said, in her remarks to the graduates. “We instructors know well how challenging and exhausting this has been, not only for you but your loved ones.”
The 1,300-hour program ran for 11 months, from September 2020 to August 2021. Attending classes is similar to a full-time job, at 44 hours per week, with instruction beginning at 8 a.m. every weekday. The program, which covers topics including microbiology, maternity nursing and community health, requires that an entry test be passed.
The Class of 2021’s clinical experience also took a hit with the pandemic. Students typically participate in 20 clinical sites as part of the coursework. This year’s total was dropped to seven because of state-imposed public health mandates.
Despite the pandemic’s strenuous impact on the graduate’s coursework, they got hands-on experience in helping end it.
Also, unlike their predecessors, the graduates hold a unique title as the first class to help operate Covid vaccination clinics for Shore Medical Center, in Somers Point, and Cape May County’s Department of Health, administering 3,500 doses to hospital staff and the public.
The opportunity at Shore Medical Center arose from the hospital, under tense conditions, seeking assistance from area nursing programs and schools to leverage vaccination demand, John Gosner, of the hospital’s radiology department, explained, in a guest speaker address.
“I was blown away with the responses and the willingness to help during this time with their desire to partner with us during this epidemic,” Gosner said. “In fact, I needed them as much as they needed us.”
Gosner lectured the graduates’ family and friends about his experience working with them, noting their enthusiastic approach to helping patients, saying he even saw some help remove fear in patients’ eyes. He also commended them for their commitment to helping immunize those seeking a jab, even during inclement weather. The most touching of all for him was seeing the students vaccinate fellow health care workers.
Some even helped Gosner shovel snow during winter.
“I can honestly say Cape May Technical School puts out some of the finest nurses I’ve ever seen, and they truly had my back,” he said.
The students also helped the county Department of Health administer vaccine doses when it was operating its clinic at the Avalon Community Center. 
Elizabethe Vega, a graduate, told the Herald about her classes’ hands-on participation on the pandemic’s front lines after greeting her friends waiting outside the gym with congratulatory posters. She described the scenes she encountered, with people being fearful of the coronavirus and the confusion the outbreak produced. It meant the world to her that she could help guide them through the confusion of the daily changing situation.
“It definitely means a lot to me to be able to be there and help get rid of this virus,” said Vega, who, before enrolling in the practical nursing course, worked as a certified nurse’s assistant for eight years, using the practical nursing program to continue her career in the medical field.
Vega plans to continue proceeding through the medical field’s ranks andenroll in Atlantic Cape Community College for prerequisites, hoping to later enroll in a registered nursing program.
“It’s just something I always knew that I wanted to do,” Vega said, of her desire to grow her medical field career.
“I’ve definitely always had aknack to help people and care for people,” she added.
The graduates of the Class of 2021 are:
*Michael Auble, with honors
*Bristy Avelino
*Zohour Benneddif
*Cassady Chatten
*Catharine Condran, with honors
*Gianna Elias-Acre, with honors
*Isabella Fardone
*Lisa Fitian, with high honors
*Caitlyn Gannon, with honors
*Nicole Garcia, with honors
*Paola Janvier, with honors
*Fausta Kawesi, with honors
*Arielli Louzada, with high honors
*Diane McElwee, with honors
*Lindey Mosley, with honors
*Julie Mounts
*Doreen Nassuna, with honors
*Sam Okezie
*Alyssa Rosenberger
*Crystal Salmon, with honors
*Cheyenne Scheetz, with honors
*Stanley Sinouis
*Elizabethe Vega
To contact Eric Conklin, email econklin@cmcherald.com.