By Tim Mastro

NEWARK — Glass was stuck in arms, wounds were pouring with blood and cries for help filled the air on the University of Delaware’s STAR Campus.

That’s when students from the Brandywine School District sprung into action.

It was a simulation of an explosion during a chemistry lab accident — the final part of the BSD Lifesavers program. Students began putting what they learned in the program to use during Tuesday’s simulation by treating mock wounds, broken bones, chemical burns and caring for the worried-well.

Seventh-grader Ibrahem Elsayed, who played the role of incident commander, said he thought his team did well in their response to the crisis.

“It was good. We got everyone under control and now they’re ready for transportation,” the PS. du Pont Middle School student said after the exercise.

“I was a little bit confused as to what to do, but as I walked around and saw everything, I was able to help a lot of people,” said Nylah Collins, an eighth-grader at Talley Middle School.

The Brandywine Lifesavers program is a partnership between UD's School of Nursing and the Brandywine School District, funded through a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, that aims to introduce middle schoolers to the field of nursing and encourage diversity in the field.

BSD was awarded $25,000 from the RWJF's Nursing Innovations Fund to pilot the after-school program, which required dollar-for-dollar matches from BSD (secured through state and local partners) and UD. BSD was the first school district in the state to receive this award and just six were awarded nationally. 

Elizabeth Speakman, the Senior Associate Dean of Nursing at UD’s School of Nursing, said most pipeline programs begin in high school. But that might be too late for nursing students in terms of pre-college coursework, so the university decided to try to connect with middle schoolers.

“This is really bringing the opportunity down to a middle school one so that they can envision themselves in the role of a nurse,” Ms. Speakman said. “So they don’t wake up as a senior in high school and say, ‘I want to be a nurse,’ when it may be hard for them to get all the courses they need at that point. We’re helping middle schools envision being a nurse now to building all these pipelines, trying to get kids interested in nursing and increase the nursing population.”

The middle school students in the program work with current UD nursing students and professors during simulations like Tuesday’s

“I’ve learned how to patch up a wound. I’ve learned how to do CPR,” Nylah said. “I’ve learned how to check vitals. I’ve learned what’s safe to be around patients and what’s not safe. I’ve learned where to dispose of sharp items with blood and urine.”

Talley Middle School eighth-grader Fanta Bility said being a nurse is something she always wanted to do and the program has reaffirmed that for her.

“I always had a passion of saving people,” she said. “I like helping people.”