Nursing group creates student community

After narrowing down the options and choosing a major, the next step for students is finding a way to be involved.

That part is easy. IU has more than 650 activities and organizations that students can join.

But one of these organizations that has flown below the radar is the Student Nurses Association of IU.

It’s a group open to all nursing majors and allows pre-nursing and nursing students to “have a way to get intertwined with each other and network,” club president Eric Kern said.

Kern, a fifth-year senior, originally studied law enforcement before transferring to IU. He had a change of heart after his mother was severely hurt in a car accident. He now works in the emergency room and intensive care unit.

He’s been in the SNA for three years and has found it very beneficial in pursuing nursing.

The IU nursing program is highly competitive. Only 60 of the 400 to 500 who declare nursing are accepted.

Kern is one of those select few and one of only three men in the program.

Although most of the association’s events are strictly for nursing students, the week before Thanksgiving break the SNA had an Air Evac helicopter land near Assembly Hall, and it was opened to the public. The Evac team gave demonstrations of emergency situations.

SNA members said they plan to find more ways to have events for the public.
An event that members hope to have in the future is a blood pressure screening on campus for the community.

On Saturday, the SNA cleaned Jill’s House, a Bloomington organization that temporarily houses patients at the IU-Health Proton Therapy Center. Proton therapy uses a beam of protons to stop the growth of cancer. It’s a form of radiation directed to certain parts of the body.

“I like the thought of making a difference while I am here at IU,” junior and SNA vice president Hannah Merriman said. “I also want to help myself professionally grow.”

Merriman already had a  bachelor’s degree in biology with a minor in social science and medicine before her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. After her mother passed away, she decided to return to IU and pursue nursing.

While joining an organization has its individual benefits, both Kern and Merriman mentioned a few similar points on how they benefited from the SNA: networking, leadership and being able to give back to both IU’s community and Bloomington as a whole.

“It allows you to be a part of something bigger than yourself,” Merriman said.