Nursing Students Learn Disaster Preparedness at NY Hope

Over the summer, students from the Wegmans School of Nursing participated in NY Hope, a four-day immersive disaster preparedness exercise.

NY Hope is hosted by the New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services in partnership with the Consortium for Humanitarian Service and Education.

Abby Latini, Maham Abbas, Maria Robinson, Haylee Miller, Christine Benton, and Kristina Hawkins joined students from nine other colleges and universities from around the country in the training, which also included community members and local and state first responders.

“I came to NY Hope because I love learning and since I am interested in emergency medicine and trauma, this seemed like the perfect opportunity,” said Hawkins. “I gained confidence in my professional skills as a nurse and hands-on experience like this is my favorite way of learning.”

Over the course of the training, students learned how to respond to multiple domestic disaster responses. Several different venues such as train disasters, building collapse, swift water disasters and rescue, and city and wilderness search and rescue scenarios were included.

In addition, students learned valuable knowledge regarding the roles and agencies involved in domestic disaster response.

Dr. Susan Frederick, visiting assistant professor in the Wegmans School of Nursing, has volunteered at NY Hope for four years, bringing student with her each year.

“It was wonderful to participate and volunteer in this activity alongside all the students,” she said. “They worked hard for four days, without the comforts of home, and acted as true volunteers thrown into a mock disaster scenario! Students from nursing, EMS, homeland security, cyber security, and other backgrounds participated to learn valuable skills in disaster response.”