UK pharmacy students help out during coronvirus pandemic

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) — Students with the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy have been busy during this pandemic.

After the governor sent out an email to nursing, medical and pharmacy students to volunteer to help out with coronavirus efforts, UK pharmacy students are now helping out at COVID testing sites, the COVID-19 hotline and filling sanitizer bottles from local distilleries.

Pharmacy student Alexsandra Nilges is also a pharmacy intern at Chandler Hospital.

She says they aren’t going into patient rooms anymore and no longer dress in PPE in an effort to save it for nurses and doctors, but she sees the hospital preparing for the transition the virus is bringing.

“I was talking to my dad about it actually and I said it feels like this is comparable to the biggest thing my generation will probably be called to do. It’s been very interesting to see how the administrators are handling a situation like this. To see how management is adapting on the day to day on the hour to hour honestly,” says UK pharmacy student Alexsandra Nilges.

She says witnessing this public health crisis doesn’t make her second guess choosing the profession she did. Instead, she says it has let her know this is what she was called to do.