National Nurses United

hospitals in Southern California from becoming so overwhelmed." Devlin vaccinated a wide range of people, from essential workers and law- yers who were in and out of the courts, jails, and prisons, to clergy members and people who had lost family members to Covid. "I saw a big slice of Los Angeles— people who were Black, Latinx, and immigrants," said Devlin. "Some people cried after getting vaccinated because they were so relieved." People's responses to receiving their shot was the most rewarding part of the experience for Karen Towles, a retired RN who volunteered during the first week in March. "We saw all races of people sitting together," said Towles, who had been a labor and delivery nurse at Providence Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica. "They were waiting grate- fully for the opportunity for vaccination. Some people were scared, but they were happy to be there. The clinic had nice music playing. People were literally danc- ing as they were walking away after their shot." The vaccine clinic was initially slated to run until the end of April, but was extended. When Lisa Nguyen, an RN at UC San Diego Medical Center, learned that she still had a chance to volun- teer, she immediately signed up. A critical care nurse who worked on the front lines of the pandemic, she had volunteered for two pre- vious RNRN deployments: in 2017 to help staff a Houston medical clinic in the wake of Hurricane Harvey and in 2019 to provide medi- cal aid to remote communities in northern Guatemala. "I wanted to vaccinate vulnerable communities," said Nguyen, who traveled more than 100 miles from San Diego to Los Angeles. "It was important to me. I have a background in public health and I wanted to provide resources to a community that was affected by inequities in health care." By May, the clinic was dealing with a lot of second doses and some vaccine hesitancy. Nguyen got plenty of questions about side effects from people getting their second doses. "As health care providers, it's our job to provide health education to our patients," said Nguyen. "I reassured them that they may have side effects, or they might not. I told them about my experience and that nothing happened to me." "There were a couple of people who sat down in the chair and were still vaccine hesitant," recalled Nguyen who had one patient who refused to get the vaccine unless someone drew out the dose in front of them. Nguyen filled the syringe and then administered the shot. Nguyen also noted that the Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) community has at times in history been the subject of non-consensual medical experiments, so the hesitancy stems from a lack of trust in the medical establishment. Reding also had an experience with vaccine hesitancy when a patient refused to get the Janssen vaccine, saying "they killed my people" and was about to leave. "I went over to them and said, 'Please don't go,'" said Reding. She understood, through our union education program, about Black people's mistrust of medical sys- tems due to the horrible history of medical experiments conducted on Black people without their consent. "I said, 'I know what you're talking about, I'm sorry that that happened. You came all this way and I want you to be vaccinated.'" Due to Reding's quick action, the patient agreed to wait. Reding got the Pfizer vaccine and asked if that would be OK. They said it was fine and got the shot. Overall, the volunteer RNs had a great experience administering Covid vaccines. "It was so refreshing and such a wonderful experi- ence compared to being in a hospital during a pandemic," said Reding. "It was so nice to be proactive instead of reactive. It was a privilege to be there for someone in need." "The vaccine clinic was a healing experience for me," said Nguyen. "I saw the worst of the pandemic and then being able to be part of this experience was the light at the end of the tunnel. In my heart I wish I could have had one more week there." Chuleenan Svetvilas is a communications specialist at National Nurses United. 14 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 "It was so refreshing and such a wonderful experience compared to being in a hospital during a pandemic. It was so nice to be proactive instead of reactive. It was a privilege to be there for someone in need."

• Cover