Nursing students at Felician University are doing their part to help people in the community get their COVID-19 vaccines.

Associate Dean and Nursing Professor Kimberly Burrows reached out to officials in Paramus where she lives, and her husband serves on the fire department, to let them know, “Our Felician students are here, ready to help the community if you ever need it, just let me know.”

The Paramus Health Department took her up on the offer and in March students started volunteering to administer the COVID-19 vaccine injections on Thursdays and Fridays.

Professor Burrows says the system is a win-win for both Paramus and the students because it is giving them first-hand community experience. “I think it is wonderful for our students because while they get acute care training, they don’t get a lot of community experience, and now we are giving back and teaching them about how to do community nursing.”

Administering the COVID-19 shots is not mandatory for the nursing students who are volunteering above and beyond their clinical rotations. Professor Burrows says the project aligns perfectly with Felician’s Franciscan values. “It hits almost every one of our core values such as giving of oneself, and just being there for others.”

The project is working out so well it has been extended to the borough of Bergenfield, and Professor Burrows says before it is all over the nursing students will probably administer thousands of COVID-19 vaccines.