Case for Support

PANDEMIC RESPONSE LEARNING FACILITIES CAMPAIGN

Remote nursing education? Not a challenge that a UMaine Black Bear can’t handle! Our junior nursing student, Kayla, practices IM injection and SQ injection skills online with the guidance of her UMaine lab instructor, Rebecca, using Zoom technology. Kayla came prepared in scrubs, her name tag, and all!

July, 2020

The University of Maine School of Nursing sincerely hopes that you and your family are doing well during this challenging time in world history. The impact of COVID-19 has not spared any human or industry. Communities have experienced unprecedented illness and death, and we have seen nurses emerge as heroes, putting their own lives at risk to provide unsurpassed care. We are proud of our nursing alumni who have responded to COVID-19 with courage, perseverance, and resilience.

Today, we are asking for your help. The School of Nursing has been affected as have other arenas. To respond to the global COVID-19 crisis, our team worked around the clock to reinvent the best possible curricula to ensure that our students progressed through their programs. We have had to rethink our programs to ensure that our graduates receive the quality education to provide patient care while keeping them and our team safe.

In addition to redesigning our curriculum, our faculty, staff and students responded to emergency staffing needs through the pandemic response team in the State of Maine and beyond. Our students and our team also worked unremittingly to graduate our May 2020 cohort three weeks early to respond to frontline staffing needs. We also offered our fall courses this summer to our December 2020 cohort to graduate them in August, four months ahead of schedule. We want nurses ready to respond to surging patient demand.

In the fall, we are preparing to bring our students back to campus safely. To respond to federal and state regulations, we will need to operate our courses and labs differently than in the past. In the initial phase of this campaign we need to raise $25,000 to prepare the first modified lab space that will support social distancing and include upgraded technology to offer quality instruction and distance learning during the COVID-19 crisis and support the future growth of our programs.

Please use the form on this brochure or go online: our.umaine.edu/nursing to make an immediate gift or pledge your support over several payments. Your contribution, of any size, will help to complete these lab and technology modifications that we urgently need for the fall. We have two additional spaces with similar needs that come with naming rights. Let us know if you would like to discuss these opportunities as described on the back panel of this brochure.

I feel uncomfortable asking for contributions when so many are struggling financially, but I know that well-prepared nurses are critical and a worthy investment in our global community. We are forever grateful for any amount that you can give.

Sincerely,

Kelley Strout, Ph.D., R.N.
Director and Associate Professor

Kara Milton, Camilla Silvia, and Katie McDonough, rising third-year nursing students, are working at Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center as Certified Nursing Assistants this summer as part of a collaborative effort with UMaine School of Nursing and EMMC to support academic progression and frontline staffing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Natalie, UMaine Class of 2017 and Family Nurse Practitioner Class of 2022, working in the Emergency Department during the COVID-19 crisis.

“I will be working in the intensive care unit at NLEMMC (Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center).” 

-Nicole Chasse ’20

Please join fellow UMaine School of Nursing Alumni and Friends to support the Pandemic Response Learning Facilities Campign

Thank you for your support!