My nursing story: Valerie Pfander

This content was created as part of the Michigan Vaccine Project, a three-year vaccine education effort supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Information was current as of the date of publication.

November 1, 2022

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Valerie Pfander is a doctorally prepared clinical nurse specialist at Munson Healthcare in Traverse City. As a frontline healthcare worker, Valerie works to develop best practice standards to increase the quality of healthcare at her institution. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she witnessed the fear and uncertainty among her coworkers, patients, and community. Working in a rural community, Valerie notes that this population is a greater risk for COVID-19 and its complications, largely due to the decrease in access to healthcare compared to big cities.

After the COVID-19 vaccine was released, Valerie and her team began to see less COVID-19 related hospitalizations, less cases of severe illness, and less deaths. She truly believes in the importance of getting vaccinated, and notes that it can save lives. Like many, Valerie has suffered tragic losses in her family due to COVID-19, and she doesn’t want other families to go through what she did.

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Support for this video comes from the Centers for Disease Control and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

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