The senior students and instructors left Sept. 6 for the 800-mile drive to the Louisiana State University campus at Alexandria to help establish a field hospital. The assignment came from the Louisiana Board of Health, and they will be working with the Red Cross.

They are scheduled to leave Louisiana Sept. 16. Alexandria is approximately 170 miles from New Orleans and is in the center of the state.

The students are all in their final semester of school and have been assigned to clinical settings such as hospitals. LuAnn Woodrick, one of the nursing instructors accompanying the students, said the students already function as nurses (with supervision), and this is a perfect way to get experience.

Colleen Rose, a clinical lecturer, was the second instructor going on the trip.

A second group of students will head to Alexandria later in the semester with Woodrick and Rose.

Woodrick said they have received numerous donations including a bus and two drivers from Royal Excursions and a recreational vehicle from Gulf Stream Coach, Inc. "We received donations from individuals, from departments, families, businesses. Memorial Hospital and St. Joseph Regional Medical Center donated the preventative vaccines for the students. We greatly appreciate the help. There have been dozens of calls. We have received total support from the School of Nursing and IU South Bend."

The trip evolved from an E-mail from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing asking for volunteers to help on the gulf coast.

"We had one student who didn't have a clinical assignment. The thought struck me, 'Wouldn't it be perfect for her?' I would go down with her. I mentioned it to the student (Chrissy Atkinson, of Mishawaka), and it mushroomed from there," Woodrick said. One student became a dozen quickly.

Atkinson said it is a chance in a lifetime to get involved and help. "It is very scary because we are uncertain what we will face."

Atkinson's mother, Wendy, said she was very proud of what they were doing. "She is going where she is needed to use what she has learned from IUSB."

Nursing student Christopher Donaghey, of Bremen, said he is proud of what they are doing. "We have the tools and the ability, why not do this?"

Marla Zimpleman, of South Bend, said the toughest thing may be to keep from crying but she is up for the challenge.