We Care” Packages

Chelsea McKee ‘14 was among the 55 nurses who volunteered for the humanitarian mission, putting their own lives on hold to help with the massive vaccination and public health effort.

“I felt this was an opportunity to help others in need,” said the Chaminade Nursing graduate, an oncology nurse at the Queen’s Medical Center and clinical adjunct at the University.

McKee said while she traveled to Samoa to give her time and medical expertise, what she didn’t expect is just how much she’d gain in return.

“On our daily vaccination visits, people welcomed us with hugs, laughter and a lot of food,” she said.

The group from Hawai'i was charged with vaccinating tens of thousands of Samoa residents in hopes of stopping the spread of the preventable disease.

McKee said doctors and nurses hit the ground running.

They started their days early in the morning, heading out to neighborhoods with vaccines and supplies. “A local nurse, a co-worker and I vaccinated over 360 people on our first day there,” said McKee.

“The nurses made an assembly line in the van to prepare the syringes and gauze, draw up the vaccination, and ... administer. Just as fast as you could imagine vaccinating 10 people we would go onto the next house and the next until the evening.”

McKee is no stranger to public health nursing.

In fact, she had her first experiences serving the community with healthcare needs as a student at Chaminade. When she was seeking her degree at the university, she was able to travel to the Philippines and the Big Island on public health missions.

“In the Philippines I had the opportunity to work in the hospital setting, live with a family in a rural mountain community where we performed health screenings, learned about alternative medicine and much more,” McKee said.

“These experiences I gained from the nursing program exposed me to public health. By volunteering, I gain so much more than I can give.”

McKee was on the Samoa trip with another Chaminade Nursing graduate: Chandler Arce ‘16, a psychiatric nurse at the Queen’s Medical Center.

Speaking recently, McKee said she’d jump at the chance to help more families in Samoa.

“I still remember on the drive back to the airport thinking, I only hope we made a difference,” she said. “We hope we made an impact and prevented more deaths.”

THOUGH UNABLE TO GATHER IN PERSON, CHAMINADE STUDENTS STILL FELT THE LOVE. FACULTY AND STAFF VOLUNTEERS GATHERED TO DISTRIBUTE CELEBRATORY CARE PACKAGES TO ALL STUDENTS (DAY UNDERGRADUATES, ONLINE UNDERGRADUATES, GRADUATE STUDENTS AND PSYD STUDENTS) AT A DRIVE-THROUGH EVENT ON MAY 5.

Students who pulled up to the Chaminade campus were greeted by a group of Chaminade staff and faculty members cheering them on and giving words of encouragement. They were directed to pull up to the distribution table, where they were handed a care package full of hot meals, breakfast foods, fresh fruits, baked goods, snacks and more through their passenger-side window.

“With COVID-19, we have to be creative and find new ways to show our students that we care about them, and we miss them,” says Allison Jerome, Vice President for Student Affairs & Dean of Students at Chaminade University.

For some students, this was the last time they got to see Chaminade faculty and staff before graduating the following week. “I’m so grateful that they took the time to put on this event for us,” says Theresa Dao, a soon-to-be-Chaminade-graduate and biology major. “It’s been really hard having to finish out my senior year without seeing my Chaminade 'ohana, so it was nice having a chance to say goodbye, even though I could only wave from my car. I’m really going to miss them.”

Chaminade plans to reopen campus in the fall, and their official graduation ceremony has been postponed to December 14, 2020.