Jackson Community College
Academics Adjunct Faculty HighlightSherrill LockwoodNursing adjunct makes a difference
Sherrill Lockwood experienced firsthand the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina to the Gulf Coast region of Mississippi. Lockwood, an adjunct clinical instructor for JCC’s nursing program, spent two weeks in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, last October, helping survivors with their medical and health needs. Her home church, Jackson Free Methodist, sponsored her trip. She worked through the Internet with a doctor to set up a medical tent to provide basic medical care to hurricane victims. They worked out of a church there that had been gutted after flooding left two feet of mud inside. After getting it cleaned out, it served as a base camp and home for anywhere from 50 to 150 volunteers. “The problems that happened down there were really interesting. You think when you have records on computers with files backed up you are safe, but most of the computers were destroyed. A lot of people didn’t have their own medical histories. In an area where there were a lot of under-educated folks who had no idea what their medical conditions were, we had to do some detective work to try to get people what they needed,” Lockwood said. Health care needs ran from the basics, to trying to renew or refill prescriptions. The church where they were stationed set up a distribution center where up to 200 people per day came to pick up supplies. While providing relief supplies helped, providing a listening ear to people’s stories helped victims to cope with the tremendous losses they faced. “A woman came in who had been home with her two kids during the hurricane. The children were really worried, and she told them not to worry. Just as she said that, the windows on the side of the house broke and water came in and took her kids outside the house, and she never saw them again,” Lockwood said. “We heard a lot of stories.” In her nursing career, she works for the U of M Hospital as a trauma coordinator in pediatrics. She teaches nurses in the first and second clinical rotation and body structure and function. This coming October, she is planning a trip to Nigeria to work in two clinics there. “If there’s something that I would encourage the nursing students, or any students, it’s that they can make a change. One person can make a difference,” Lockwood said. “It’s a great experience from that perspective, and it makes you realize that you are so blessed with what you have, and that you shouldn’t take it for granted.” |