| PANDEMIC |
Students Bring Vaccine, Enthusiasm to Elk Grove Volunteers Excited By Historic Chance to Serve Community
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Photo: Nitya Janardhan
ven as the clock strikes 4 p.m. on a January day, a long vaccination appointment line stretches out the two-door entrance. California Northstate University’s campus has become the site of a busy vaccination clinic in a usually slow-paced Elk Grove. When the FDA granted the Emergency Use Authorization to the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine on December 11, 2020, fourth-year California Northstate University medical student and class president Radhika Gulhar took the initiative to help vaccinate her fellow classmates. She made contact with the California Department of Public Health and Sacramento County to
Kim Lau receives her vaccine at California Northstate University’s clinic in Elk Grove. 20
Sierra Sacramento Valley Medicine
By Pranav Sathe, MS III Pranav.Sathe6123@cnsu.edu
get medical students approved to receive the vaccine so they could help vaccinate others. By January 8, Gulhar’s efforts to help CNU’s medical students receive their vaccinations had paid off and they were able to work at the community clinic sponsored by the school’s College of Pharmacy. “Getting the medical students vaccinated felt like something that was part of my duty as class president,” Gulhar said. “I wanted to help our students feel safe and protected while living with their loved ones and working the frontlines in this pandemic.” Other students were eager to help and be a part of this historic effort. Stephen Howell, a second-year medical student at CNU, has been coordinating the volunteer sign up sheets for the students. “We started having more and more patients sign up,” he said, adding that the number quickly went from about 100 patients served in the three-hour blocks to 300. “So we expanded and now have almost all of the M1 and M2 classes vaccinated as well as volunteered. More are signing up to volunteer again along with M3s and M4s.” Howell said CNU reached out to other university health care programs, and that lead to a combination of volunteers at the clinic from CNU, UC Davis and Sacramento State. While the pharmacy students at California Northstate University administer injections, the medical students are in charge of monitoring side effects and helping patients make their next appointment. Students interact with the patients from the minute they enter the doors to get vaccinated through the moment they exit. “Every time patients at the vaccination clinic said thank you or smiled, it was a very rewarding and humbling experience,” Gulhar said. By ErictoWilliams, All medical students have the ability sign MD up imango@att.net