12 N A T I O N A L N U R S E W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G A P R I L | M AY | J U N E 2 0 2 1
W
hen the registered Nurse Response
Network (RNRN) call went out in Febru-
ary for RN volunteers to vaccinate the
underserved South Los Angeles commu-
nity, nurses immediately answered the
call. The RNs were eager to help the pre-
dominantly Latinx and Black community
who had been hit hard by Covid. The
need was urgent: In February, the Los
Angeles Times reported that only 5 per-
cent of the community's residents had been vaccinated. In contrast,
the Times noted, 25 percent of residents in wealthier areas on the
westside of Los Angeles County had already received their first shot.
RNRN, a disaster-relief project of the California Nurses Founda-
tion and National Nurses United, began sending a team of RN
volunteers every week from March 1 until the end of May to assist
with the administration of Covid-19 vaccines in South L.A. The vac-
cine clinic was a project of International Medical Corps (IMC),
which partnered with RNRN. The two organizations, along with
Kedren staff and community volunteers, have helped administer
more than 100,000 doses at Kedren Community Health Center.
International Medical Corps, a global humanitarian organization
that offers medical services and training to people affected by con-
flict, disaster, and disease, had previously partnered with RNRN in
2019, when Hurricane Dorian hit the Bahamas, and in 2018, provid-
ing Hurricane Michael relief in Florida and treating people in the
aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
"The fall surge in Los Angeles was terrible and so was the surge in
our Central Valley," recalled Sandy Reding, an RN at Bakersfield
Memorial Hospital and a president of California Nurses Association/
National Nurses Organizing Committee. "We saw the horror of people
dying in record numbers. We shut down our operating rooms at the
DOSE of HOPE
RNRN volunteers help administer vaccines to thousands in
underserved Los Angeles community.
BY CHULEENAN SVETVILAS
