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WCU students majoring in healthcare fields have to do clinicals, which give them real-world experience in their fields. Hurricane Helene gave many WCU students experiences they never thought they would see during college or even in their lifetime.

WCU clinical mental health counseling graduate student Hannah Webber had the same reaction a lot of people in WNC did when they stepped out of their doors a few weeks ago.

鈥淚 was like, 鈥極h, this is really bad,鈥欌�� she said.

Black Mountain, a town just east of Asheville, was devastated by Hurricane Helene. Places, homes and businesses that were adored by its residents were severely damaged, and for those people, a sense of loss and grief lingers.

That鈥檚 where Webber stepped in.

鈥淚 just started my practicum at Black Mountain Counseling Center. I鈥檝e seen my clients two to three times, and then this hurricane hit, and it鈥檚 been so incredibly challenging, beautiful, tragic, just like all the emotions,鈥� she said.

For Webber, the weeks after Helene rolled through have been full of getting folks connected to resources, lending them an ear and even just giving them hugs.

Webber has been one of the few mental health professionals still in-person in Black Mountain, with several others being out of town after evacuating or unable to return home. And she鈥檒l be the first to admit that it鈥檚 been challenging, logistically and emotionally.

鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of been like I鈥檝e been thrown into it,鈥� Webber said. 鈥淚鈥檝e been to some community health meetings where therapists are meeting up just to try to start addressing the enormous mental health concerns of our community. Black Mountain and Swannanoa got hit super hard by this hurricane. It鈥檚 just like ground zero in a lot of places out there.

鈥淧ersonally, I鈥檓 kind of feeling burnt out,鈥� she said. 鈥淢y supervisor said this is a marathon, not a sprint. We鈥檙e in for the long run. People are going to be needing mental health support for months and years to come because of this.鈥�

But Webber鈥檚 clients aren鈥檛 the only ones that need help. Her and her fellow colleagues have had to wrestle with this tragedy as well, along with holding the weight of other people鈥檚 pain.

However, Webber knows the work she鈥檚 doing in Black Mountain is important. She鈥檚 lived in the area for over a decade, and the skills she鈥檚 learned in class have helped heal the community she loves so dearly.

鈥淚鈥檓 not just learning about it in the classroom; I鈥檓 doing the work,鈥� Webber said. 鈥淚鈥檓 trying to figure things out in the real world, and I mean, it鈥檚 an incredible experience to be able to say that I鈥檝e survived a natural disaster and helped people cope through that.鈥�

Like almost anyone in Western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene, Elizabeth Sexton had a lot on her plate. She had folks to check in on and places to get to all without the luxury of cell service.

But as an assistant professor of nursing inside 甜瓜视频app鈥檚 College of Health and Human Sciences, her instincts to care for others kicked in.

鈥淚 remember thinking, what can we do? How can we help? And I thought, 鈥榃hat do I do well? I organize nursing students,鈥欌�� Sexton said.

After rounding up students and weaving through channels of permission, Sexton helped get her students primarily to Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, part of which was turned into a makeshift medical shelter.

Sexton and a number of other WCU nursing faculty had students from the school鈥檚 traditional, accelerated, masters and doctoral programs all pitching in in a time of need. And though things looked bleak, her students were a light in darkness.

鈥淭hose students gave those patients hope,鈥� Sexton said. 鈥淭hey listened to them and they heard their stories, whether it was their home that was destroyed or the road to their home so they couldn鈥檛 get out鈥� The patients, they just kept saying thank you to the students, to us.

鈥淚 was so proud of them. I never could鈥檝e been more proud to wear that purple.鈥�

For these nursing students, working in a college lobby amid a natural disaster looked a lot different than working in a hospital. Supplies weren鈥檛 as plentiful, the shelter didn鈥檛 have running water and nurses often wheeled patients outside to porta potties to use the bathroom.

Inside the lobby, the medical shelter, which was run by the Mountain Area Health Education Center, was broken up into three sections. The first and second didn鈥檛 have specific patient types, but the third was reserved for patients needing more respiratory care.

In the back of the shelter, a make-do pharmacy was set up, and in the front was a triage station. Amidst all the irregularities and personal troubles students dealt with, they put others before themselves and did what they knew how to do 鈥� take care of others.

鈥淚 like to be the one directly making a person鈥檚 day better,鈥� said Jackson Newton, a senior nursing student. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 like to be one or two steps removed from the process. I want to be right there helping them, and this was no better way to do that than during this.鈥�

Also for the students, their work at A-B Tech was a learning experience, working closely with physicians and residents from MAHEC.

For WCU accelerated nursing senior Isabel Magallanes, her time working at the medical shelter reinforced her interest in emergency nursing just weeks before her graduation in December.

鈥淚t really helped me build some problem-solving skills, leadership skills and knowing that things like this can happen,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e never know when something like this can happen, and it鈥檚 just absolutely necessary to have a game plan.鈥�

All while students were taking vitals, making sure that their patients were stable and listening to their patients' stories, WCU nursing faculty were helping out, too.

Around 10 faculty members played a big part as well with professors like Sexton and instructors like Laura Plantenburg coordinating shift changes, checking in on their students and even taking on a few shifts as well.

Plantenberg and Sexton also gave Terri Durbin, the director of the WCU School of Nursing, a lot of praise, too, for her support for the students and faculty.

Together, nursing students and faculty covered around 230 shifts at the A-B Tech medical shelter, a community shelter in Henderson County and Givens Estates and Gerber Park, a pair of retirement communities in Asheville.

鈥淚t was really a massive effort, but I think as to how important, for the people we showed up for, we were their lifeline because some of them lost everything,鈥� Sexton said. 鈥淚 think it really pointed to the need of nursing during a disaster, and really for me, it pointed to the need that nursing students can truly make a difference.鈥�

WCU students Chris Hartbarger, Tyler Pritchard, Abby Sullivan, Annabelle Perry and Max Tinkley from the Doctor of Physical Therapy program witnessed the destruction firsthand as they volunteered in Swannanoa.

Pritchard, a second year DPT student from Statesville, organized the volunteer effort, coordinating with Food Lion in Sylva to collect bottled water donations and with WCU students volunteering with Waynesville United Methodist Church to gather food and clothing for families in Swannanoa.

鈥淚 have always been about helping my community and pushing them forward. As future healthcare providers, I felt it was our duty to help others when they were in need,鈥� Pritchard said. 鈥淲e visited many places to assist in wellness checks, help clean up debris, and manage distribution centers throughout the WNC mountains. In Swannanoa specifically, I have a few friends who lost almost everything they owned, which was a major point of me taking my skills and efforts to that area.鈥�

The WCU team met Pritchard鈥檚 friends at a distribution center near Grovemont Park and donated over $400 worth of supplies that Pritchard purchased, using the funds donated to support the area.

鈥淎fter we unloaded the supplies, we stayed to help with distribution and some logistical topics. Abby, Eryn and I went on a distribution trip to Candler to a Latinx community to provide water, food, baby supplies, and household supplies,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen we arrived, the whole community was excited and happy to see us. After talking with one individual, we learned that we were the first group to bring them supplies and provide them with information about resources in the area that they otherwise would not have known about.

Once the team returned to Grovemont Park, they helped reorganize the distribution center and move supplies. They also finished with a wellness check on a damaged home, taking pictures and planning what resources would be needed to assist them.

鈥淥verall, I spent about 80 hours over two weeks assisting in multiple counties, with folks from various demographics,鈥� Pritchard said. 鈥淭he main thing I took away from this experience was that kindness always wins. Helping those in need can make a major difference in their lives and yours.鈥�

Sullivan, a second year DPT student, could not reach her family in the first few days after the storm, knowing they were in a heavily impacted area, but she still wanted to go and help others despite her own situation.

鈥淯pon arrival to the community, the damage was beyond anything I鈥檇 ever seen; entire houses had shifted, dirt covered the area, trees and buildings were down and homes were destroyed,鈥� she said. 鈥淎fter our time in Swannanoa, Tyler and other members of my cohort found similar volunteer opportunities. Some classmates even drove three and a half hours north to where my family lives, helping run and clean up a community center destroyed by flooding. I am deeply grateful for my Western Carolina community, my friends, and everyone who volunteered their time to assist those affected by the disaster.鈥�

Hartbarger, a first year DPT student from Sylva, graduated with a bachelor鈥檚 degree from Warren Wilson College in 2023 and was heartbroken to see so many familiar places washed away in Swannanoa.

鈥淪o many roads that I traveled daily were no longer there. That was hard to see,鈥� he said. 鈥淎mid all the sadness, it was heartwarming to see my WCU family coming together to support my Swannanoa family and be able to help too.鈥�