WVU School of Nursing receives recognition award from Monongalia County Health Department for assistance during COVID-19

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, members of the Monongalia County Health Department began brainstorming about community partners who could support their efforts in contact tracing, providing vaccinations, education and more.

“The first thing that popped into my mind was the WVU School of Nursing,” said Anthony DeFelice, executive director of the Monongalia County Health Department. “I’ve known Jo Watson for a long time, and I knew she was up for the task.”

Watson, then-director of the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program, organized student volunteers to use their newly acquired clinical skills to aid the COVID-19 prevention efforts.

“The health department was instrumental in getting everybody in the county and surrounding areas vaccinated,” Watson said. “And of course, we had the manpower to (help). We had students who were ready, willing and needed community service hours. They jumped in and with the help of all of us, we got everybody vaccinated.”

DeFelice presented Watson and Dean Tara Hulsey with a plaque June 28 in recognition and thanks for the WVU School of Nursing faculty, staff and students “for their outstanding support and contributions during the COVID-19 pandemic” from 2020-23.

“We had to figure out more ways to work together and be creative to meet the needs that were there,” said Hulsey, Dean and E. Jane Martin Endowed Professor. “This was really a win-win — the students got the experience, and we were meeting a huge need and saving lives. It’s a tremendously important partnership and one that I value.”

As DeFelice noted, School of Nursing students first helped with contact tracing and case investigations early on during the pandemic, which began in March 2020. When the first vaccines were rolled out in December 2020, it made sense for faculty and students to help with large-scale immunization clinics.

Watson and her colleagues and students were on hand for the first clinic, held Jan. 4, 2021 at the West Virginia National Guard Morgantown Readiness Center for individuals 80 and over.

“Jo was such a calm and helpful presence at those clinics, in which we ramped up efforts and went from inoculating 100 people to more than 1,000 in a single day,” DeFelice said.

Vaccine clinics continued through 2021 and into 2022, first at the MCHD-WVU Medicine-Mon Health Medical Center collaboration at the Morgantown Mall’s old Sears location, and then at the WVU Rec Center.

WVU School of Nursing faculty members have also helped provide vaccinations in other outreach events, including the Monongalia County Quick Response Team’s Free Naloxone Day. As DeFelice noted, the COVID-19 pandemic was not the first time MCHD and the WVU School of Nursing worked together, but he believes the alliance has been strengthened.

“I think that we’ve always had a good relationship, but we have a better one now,” he added. “I think we’ll collaborate on many issues in the future. We have a template built.”

-WVU-

CONTACT: Wendy Holdren
Director of Communications and Marketing
WVU School of Nursing
304-581-1772; wendy.holdren@hsc.wvu.edu

OR

CONTACT: MaryWade Burnside
Public Information Officer
Monongalia County Health Department
304-598-5152; marywade.burnside@wv.org