WEST LIBERTY, W.Va., March 20, 2017 — West Liberty University’s Student Nurse Association is serious about its patient care — so serious that the student-led club invited Pennsylvania STAT MedEvac professional Wes McLaughlin to discuss and demonstrate patient transport in the air. STAT MedEvac is a direct air carrier that arranges and coordinates the operation of air ambulance services in the region.
“Our Student Nurse Association works to provide professional development for our students and all nursing students in the area and are happy to have Wes coming up on Monday to share his skills with us,” said Rose Frashure, a junior nursing student from WLU whose hometown is Glenville, W.Va.
Frashure is the vice president of the Nursing Association on the Hilltop and she was assisted in planning this program by association president Kimber Boord of Wheeling, also a WLU junior. WLU’s nursing association recently became a member of the National Student Nurses’ Association (NSNA) and the two officers are motivated to make membership a valuable experience for student nurses.
“When the senior class turned over the campus nurses association to the junior class, Kimber wanted to take it a bit further by being a part of the National Student’s Nursing Association which we weren’t at the time. We did the research on how to become a member of the national association and within a week, Kimber had a count of 11 students sign-up, so we are now a nationally recognized association,” Frashure said.
“Wes will talk and present his lecture starting at 3:30 p.m. He’ll will discuss important critical care methods, medications and more for about an hour. Then around 4:15 p.m., he and his co-worker will actually land a helicopter on our baseball field so that our nursing students can tour the helicopter and see first-hand what it’s like.”
McLaughlin also will describe his job and explain about his company so that the students get a glimpse into working in the field of critical care transportation.
“We extended an invitation to nursing students at Wheeling Jesuit, Belmont Community College and West Virginia Northern and we hope to see many students benefit from this outreach,” Boord added. “It will be very helpful for our nursing classes and our future careers.”
WLU’s chapter of the NSNA also arranged for students to hear from the CORE (Center for Organ Recovery) professionals recently and from the Red Cross. They also will have a chance to tour the Pittsburgh CORE facility soon.
West Liberty University nursing program is highly rated features highly qualified faculty, comprehensive curriculum and clinical learning experiences in dynamic health care agencies.
Housed in the Campbell Hall of Health Sciences, it offers the accredited Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree for high school graduates and a RN-to-BSN degree program for Registered Nurses with an associate degree or diploma who are currently licensed or eligible for licensure and want to earn a bachelor’s.
WLU also offers a new BA/BS to BSN for nursing, which is tailored for those students holding a non-nursing degree who want to earn the BSN and enter the professional healthcare field.
For more information, please visit westliberty.edu or call the nursing department at 304.336-8108.