Spring Hill Prepares Nurses for Unique Pandemic Challenges

DONMEKA MARTIN-MERCER ’99

MAGAZINE ALUMNI COLLEGE HILL SPRING THE

Spring Hill Prepares Nurses

FOR Unique Challenges of a Pandemic

HOW DOES SERVING OTHERS, ONE OF THE CORE VALUES OF A JESUIT EDUCATION, PLAY OUT IN THE MIDST OF A GLOBAL PANDEMIC? DONMEKA MARTIN-MERCER ’99 HAS THIS REPORT FROM THE FRONT LINES:

“IT’S LIKE BEING IN A HURRICANE AND NOT KNOWING WHERE YOU ARE GOING TO LAND.”

Donmeka Martin-Mercer, RN, MSN/MHA, RN-BC, is a graduate of Spring Hill College’s first nursing class. Now back home in Jackson, Tennessee, she’s Executive Director of Acute Care Services for West Tennessee Healthcare, a public, not-for-profit healthcare system.

Early during the pandemic a patient coughed in her face. She didn’t think much about it until she learned that the patient had tested positive for COVID-19.

“I was terrified, because I have children at the house,” she said. She had to quarantine herself for a couple of days. “That was the longest, the absolute longest time, just sitting at home. My kids would come to the door, and I wouldn’t allow them to come into the room. It was very intense.”

Taylor Stine ’20 graduated on May 8, 2020, a month and a half after Spring Hill had suspended in-person classes because of COVID. She began work just days later in the emergency department in Mobile before starting a new job with Travel Nurse Across America, where he receives a new assignment at different hospital every three months. Her work helps hospitals overcome staffing shortages, ensuring that patient care is readily available.

Stine, who is a registered nurse, sees this nomadic experience as an extension of her Jesuit learning experiences at Spring Hill and her high school. “Being able to go into communities with different cultures

SPRING/SUMMER 2022

TAYLOR FONTENELLE, ’23