{"id":339014,"date":"2021-02-24T06:00:02","date_gmt":"2021-02-23T20:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=339014"},"modified":"2021-02-24T06:00:02","modified_gmt":"2021-02-23T20:00:02","slug":"nmc-graduates-at-the-front-lines-of-the-covid-19-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/nmc-graduates-at-the-front-lines-of-the-covid-19-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"NMC graduates at the front-lines of the COVID-19 pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"
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2017 NMC Nursing graduate Maria Atrero. (NMC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Northern Marianas College graduates are working and making a difference as frontline workers at the Commonwealth Health Center during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the COVID-19 situation came about, we were assigned to different units to manage the patient flow that might come in because of the COVID-19,\u201d said NMC alumna Mayleen Aldan, a nurse working at the hospital\u2019s operating room. \u201cAt first, I was hesitant to go to these different units, but ended up helping patients in the emergency room and the intensive care unit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough the risk for me was very high of contracting COVID-19, I still gladly accepted the reassignment because it is my goal to care for patients, whether we have a pandemic situation or not. I still have that fear and concerns but with the development of guidelines from experts, I never regret responding to the call. I am still ever willing to continue to be part of the front-line healthcare providers as I did before, now, and will be in the future,\u201d Aldan said.<\/p>\n

Natasha Quitugua, another NMC graduate who is now a nurse at CHC, said the experience was \u201cchallenging.\u201d<\/p>\n

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2016 NMC Nursing graduate Mayleen Aldan. (NMC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMy experience as a front-liner during the first wave of the pandemic was challenging but rewarding,\u201d said Quitugua. \u201cStill, it made me a nurse who can fight back the virus to protect our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Quitugua, the nursing instructors at NMC told her and her classmates to never give up, even when the \u201cdark times\u201d come<\/p>\n

\u201cThey prepared us, as nurses, to deal with the worst-case scenario,\u201d Quitugua said. \u201cThey trained us to fight fear and obstacles. They educated us to become a wise nurse who can care for ourselves and the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maria Atrero, another NMC graduate turned nurse, also said that NMC helped her in dealing with the pandemic.<\/p>\n

During the time when COVID-19 was newly introduced, I remember always feeling anxious about the status of the hospital,\u201d said Atrero. \u201cStill, I learned while at NMC to adapt to my environment. In the field of nursing the environment is always changing, especially with patients and family members coming in and out of the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n

Atrero asked that the community in the CNMI adhere to COVID-19 regulations and preventive measures.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt helps us, your families, and yourself if you\u2019re compliant with taking your medications and keeping your health in check,\u201d Atrero added. (PR)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
2018 NMC Nursing graduate Natasha Quitugua. (NMC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Northern Marianas College graduates are working and making a difference as frontline workers at the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":339016,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[69],"class_list":["post-339014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-nmc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}