Two service activities hosted by the College of Nursing were so well attended the personnel ran out of supplies — some within the first hour.
Volunteers at the event on March 19 put together newborn kits for mothers and made blankets for rape victims in Ghana.
After only one hour into the service activity, there was no more material to put kits together and make blankets, so students decided to write letters for hospital patients.
Sara Hall, a public relations specialist at the Education in Zion gallery, said the activity was so well attended that kits were put together very quickly.
“The primary service project was specializing kits for babies in Ghana,” Hall said. “The kits were finished way faster than we thought they would. Some of the students made blankets for rape victims as another service activity, which was also finished really quickly.”
Hall also said that the card making was not planned.
“As a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing, students started working on cards for people who are in hospitals,” Hall said.
Karen Sessions, a nursing student from Springville, and her husband, Perry, volunteered at the service activity by making cards and blankets.
“I think the majority of us (volunteers) are nursing students,” Karen said. “I was able to get here in time to make the blankets, but I only saw the end of the kit activity.”
The newborn kits will be delivered to Ghana by Karen Delacruz, a professor of Global Health and Diversity. She and some nursing students will go during spring semester. She explained why the kits are put together for Ghana specifically.
“Mothers don’t have resources, and the mortality rate ranges anywhere from 50-30 percent,” Delacruz said. “In some areas every other child dies before they are a year old.”
Not only will students deliver the kits, they will also train mothers on how to use a nasal aspirator so that if the child gets a cold the baby can breathe. They will also talk to them about the importance of keeping their babies clean so that they’re not as likely to get a deadly illness.
“We talk to them about coming to a healthcare provider early when the baby gets sick,” Delacruz said.
Approximately 150 kits were put together as part of the service activities organized by the College of Nursing. Boy Scouts doing their Eagle projects are also helping the cause by assembling more kits.
