102: Tracy Sheirer

Nurse Educator, Alvernia

Tracy has been a nurse since 1987 and has been teaching the Nursing program at Alvernia full time for the last ten years. She says, “I am preparing students to be safe and competent nurses.” Once the campus was closed due to COVID, one of the difficulties in teaching Nursing she said, “…is that it’s not just a book learned profession. So much of it is learned hands on and is taught to be combined with compassion and understanding of each patient.”  Many of her students had COVID. Dozens of people she knew were lost to it, including her mother-in-law. 

Additionally, at Alvernia, Tracy chairs the Faculty Educational Technology Committee. The time period of the pandemic kept her and the committee members very busy, assisting teachers on how to continue classes virtually. “Not everyone is tech savvy, “said Tracy. 

She also is the Chairperson of The Berks Immunization Coalition. They do a tremendous amount of advocacy work. She was involved in organizing and distributing vaccinations at several sites. It was not unusual to be working 12 to 14 hour days. In fact, during this interview another essential worker passing by recognized her from a vaccination site. They had a friendly greeting. Then we continued on.

She said when preparing to volunteer at her first vaccination site, “I was never so excited to put my uniform on. It was empowering, helping in this way.” Then she went on to say, “Some people (those receiving shots) cried at the clinic. Or they said things like I feel like I won the lottery….and there were so many ‘thank you’ comments.”

“This (the pandemic) created an opportunity for us to grow as humans,” she said. She hopes people stop using the vaccine as a weapon. “It’s a positive accomplishment.” She continued, “The dishonesty about it (the vaccine) is only for personal gain….Take opinions out of the vaccine conversation and focus on the facts.”