Covid 19: A community based nursing disaster response

Nursing has been criticized for inconsistent and episodic attention to disaster response training in academic settings. The work described herein demonstrates that nursing was not only prepared for the COVID‐19 pandemic but was able to mobilize and lead a large‐scale response that benefited a university community and the larger surrounding communities and neighborhoods paying particular attention to marginalized populations. For healthcare providers outside of hospitals, it was clear that disaster response methods would need to be implemented. The authors demonstrate that nursing established an on‐the‐ground response in collaboration with other University officials and departments. Initially established for the University community, the response was moved into surrounding neighborhoods vaccinating the city's most vulnerable. The nurse led effort answered more than 25,000 Hotline telephone calls, collected more than 30,000 COVID‐19 molecular tests, and administered more than 150,000 COVID‐19 vaccines in an operation that served up to 2500 people a day for 5 months. Nurses saved thousands of lives at the height of the COVID‐19 pandemic in hospitals and in community‐based settings. The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio School of Nursing demonstrated the nimble nature of academic nursing and outlines a large‐scale community response to an international pandemic in the seventh‐largest United States city. The authors establish guidelines for nurses and others to follow for future events.