WINONA, Minn. – Nursing prof Cydny Jones was scheduled for a sabbatical leave at Winona State University this year, but she gave it up. Jones instead stayed on campus with fellow faculty to inoculate more than 160 nursing students against Co-Vid and preparing them to join front line vaccination clinics as soon as more vaccines arrive. “I had some guilt being an RN and being on sabbatical and not being on the front line,” Jones said. “That fueled me.” Her sabbatical was supposed to be at Mayo Clinic collecting and analyzing research results. Jones also had another motivation to shift gears: The negative reputation being ascribed to students as narcistic partiers oblivious to any civic responsibility to follow Co-Vid protocols. The reputation, Jones said, was undeserved. “These are great young adults,” she said. “All we need to do is teach them. Let’s find solutions rather than look for the blame.” The nursing students being readied for inoculation duty will be at vaccine sites in Winona and Olmsted counties.
Jones. She cancelled sabbatical to help organize a Winona State project to prepare nursing students for imminent real-life experiences in the Co-Vid battle.