SIUE Students Experience Flight Nursing With Visit From Air Evac Lifeteam

EDWARDSVILLE - Nursing students at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville welcomed the Air Evac Lifeteam from Maryville to campus on Thursday, Oct. 13, getting a firsthand look into the career of flight nursing. The Air Evac Lifeteam helicopter performed a landing for the students in a parking lot on the Edwardsville campus and shared insights on their path to their unique and specialized career.

“It is important in community health to know that there are several nursing opportunities available,” said Myjal Garner, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, instructor in the SIUE School of Nursing. “We strive to introduce students to not only classroom experiences, but also real-life experiences in the community to be sure that they realize there are a wide variety of opportunities in nursing.”

“Flight nursing is something I have never considered,” said Katie Schuecking, a senior nursing major from Quincy. “Getting to talk to people who are working in our community, asking them questions, seeing what they have thought of their experience and how their careers have gone has given us great perspective. I am now considering being a flight nurse.”

Fellow senior nursing major and president of the Student Nurses Association, Mackenzie Schoeck, of Highland, had not heard of flight nursing until taking part in this experience.

“It is great to see other options of nursing as we are interviewing for jobs,” Schoeck said. “These experiences give us a new way of thinking about nursing. SIUE’s School of Nursing has made me feel incredibly prepared for my future in this profession."

“We see the sickest patients, and to be able to play a part in giving them the lifesaving care that they need, is very rewarding,” said Dylan Kavanaugh, flight nurse for the Air Evac Lifeteam. “I wish I would have had this opportunity when I was in school. To have this exposure to emergency nursing would have further solidified my career path in flight nursing.”

TheSchool of Nursing’sprograms are committed to creating excellence in nursing leadership through innovative teaching, evidence-based practice, quality research, patient advocacy and community service. Enrolling more than 1,700 students in its baccalaureate, master’s and doctoral programs, the School develops leaders in pursuit of shaping the nursing profession and impacting the health care environment. SIUE’s undergraduate nursing programs on the Edwardsville campus help to solve the region’s shortage of baccalaureate-prepared nurses and enhance the quality of nursing practice within all patient service venues. The School’s graduate programs prepare nurses for advanced roles in clinical practice, administration and education.

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