Dr. Sandra Lindsay made headlines around the world (and in DailyNurse) for being the first person—and first nurse—in the US to hold out her arm for a vaccine that was regarded by many with uncertainty. How could they produce a vaccine at such a ferocious pace? (How? To paraphrase Samuel Johnson’s famous remark, when scientists fear that they or their loved ones will be killed by a virus, it concentrates their minds wonderfully). When people’s perspectives on the mRNA vaccines were clouded by fear and political biases coming from every angle, our Nurse of the Week stood up for non-immunocompromised nurses everywhere when she rolled up a sleeve and said, “I trust science.” The Jamaican-born nurse with many letters after her name is an important symbol and one that should be remembered. Nursing is about caring, but it is also about leadership, science, lots of hard work, and engaging in an endless war against ignorance.
So, what has Sandra Lindsay, DHSc, MS, MBA, RN, CCRN-K, NE-BC done in 2021? Well, she received her booster shot in January… We’re not certain about anything particular she did February through May, but she was probably preoccupied with her job as Director of Nursing at the Northwell Health Long Island Jewish Medical Center, waiting for the daily SARS-CoV-2 case rate to fall, and—because she really does trust science—preparing to add a Doctor of Health Sciences (DHSc) degree to her cv.
Then, this month, Dr. Lindsay responded to the request of a determined new grad, Tracey Smith, president of the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC-SUNY) Nursing Students’ Association. Smith, who describes Lindsay as “the face of the Covid-19 vaccine,” was bent on getting the iconic nurse to speak at the pinning ceremony at the school, which is where she had earned her own first nursing degree in 1994 (and was valedictorian of her class, of course). “She can attest to the safety of the vaccine,” said Smith, who plans to earn a Master’s Degree in Pediatric Nursing. “She can help our new graduate nurses and the BMCC community at large to understand how this vaccine is working to protect us and the importance of mass vaccinations nationwide.”
After somehow finding time for her own new pinning, Lindsay spoke to Smith and the other BMCC nursing grads. She more than fulfilled Smith’s hopes: “It should be the natural choice for us to get vaccinated because it’s how we look out for each other. It gives us a chance to protect ourselves, our healthcare workers and our family and friends. It’s an opportunity to grab onto a much brighter future after a very dark year.”
I believe in science. As a nurse, my practice is guided by science. And so I trust that. What I don’t trust is that if I contract COVID, I don’t know how it’s going to affect me or those I come in contact with. So, I encourage everyone to take the vaccine.
Dr. Sandra Lindsay, December 14, 2020
During commencement, Dr. Lindsay was also awarded the BMCC President’s Medal for 2021, “which expresses the College’s admiration and appreciation for extraordinary service and leadership.”
At the ceremony, Lindsay said of Covid-19, “It’s not gone. I was vaccinated back in December and here I am today, feeling well, doing well. All BMCC graduates are role models. Nurses going out into the field are role models for patients who will look up to you as you model the behavior you want to see in the world.”
For more details (but not about Lindsay’s actions in February-May), see the NY Carib News story here.
- CRNA Helped Save Martin Luther King’s Life After 1958 Stabbing - February 2, 2024
- Nurse of the Week: L&D Nurse Amie Page was Injured in Line of (Off)Duty - July 27, 2022
- Thanks to Vaccinations, This Week’s NY Polio Case is Not Front-Page News - July 22, 2022