Dean Linda D. Norman, DSN, RN, FAAN, is requesting that Vanderbilt School of Nursing alumni sew cloth masks that PreSpecialty students can use as they return to their clinical activities.
In an email sent May 19, the dean wrote, “I am optimistic that our School of Nursing PreSpecialty students will be able to return to hospitals for their hands-on capstone clinical experience this summer. The health care world they will enter is quite different since COVID-19 put the pause button on clinical experiences for nursing students throughout the country.
“As you know, there has been a shortage of masks and other personal protective equipment for providers. Fortunately, our students will not need to use vital PPE, including sturdy N-95 respirator masks. They will need cloth masks, however. I would like to ask you, our alumni, to consider making cloth masks for our students to wear when they are at their clinical placements.”
Cloth masks can be made according to CDC guidelines and shipped via United Parcel Service to:
Mask Project, Vanderbilt School of Nursing
461 21st Ave South
Nashville, TN 37240.
(U.S. mail is not being delivered to the school buildings at this time.)
“As nurses, our first instinct is to help,” Norman wrote.”This is a great way to help fight the pandemic and support the next generation of Vanderbilt nurses. I know it will mean a great deal to students that Vanderbilt alumni took the time and effort to make masks for them.”