Marlynn Marroso, associate professor of nursing, recently traveled to Atlanta to speak to the American Nurses Association Conference. She detailed the collaboration between the Schoolcraft nursing program and the American Red Cross, focusing on the disaster training preparedness initiatives in the associate degree nursing program.

All first-year students receive Red Cross disaster training and serve one day a month on a disaster action team for a 12-hour shift. Second-year students receive community disaster education and present disaster seminars to members of the community such as scout troops, PTAs and senior groups.

Nursing students take the training classes in the summer to prepare for community activities during the school year. By graduation, each student will have contributed 120 hours of service to the Red Cross. Marroso believes that nurses who include disaster training as a component of their education will have expanded roles in the community and in the world.