Photo Credit/Jim Irizarry
By: JIM IRIZARRY
Staff Writer
jcirizar@iusb.edu
The IU South Bend School of Nursing is still reeling from the Feb. 11 death of LuAnn Woodrick.
Woodrick was the Clinical Assistant Professor and Lab Coordinator in the school. She passed away as the result of a traffic accident. The Counseling Office has been available to students ever since the accident.
Classes were also canceled on Feb. 11 following the accident, and on Feb. 15 and 16. The school’s Facebook page has also been flooded with memories from former and current students alike, reflecting on how much Woodrick meant to them.
Senior Amanda Bogard is a sixth-semester nursing student, in addition to being an SGA Senator.
“LuAnn taught my first nursing class here at IUSB and she definitely had a huge impact on my experience,” Bogard said. “She was always on the fourth floor of Northside with a smile and a kind word. I wasn’t extremely close with LuAnn, but she meant more to me than she knew. She was a great role model and mentor for all nursing students.”
Bogard said that it has been a sad week in the School of Nursing, but she has been amazed at the support and love from faculty, students and the entire IUSB campus.
“Many people loved LuAnn and will miss her terribly, but we are coming together as a community to help each other get through this awful time,” said Bogard.
According to a statement on the school’s Facebook page, the School of Nursing is carefully planning the best way to honor Woodrick’s memory. In the meantime, a fund has been set up at IUSB.
“LuAnn was the sweetest person I have ever met,” Bogard said. “She was a great educator, nurse and person. She affected me in all of these areas. I will always try to improve myself to be more like her. When I met her I thought, ‘Wow, that’s the kind of nurse I want to be.”
Bogard will continue to pay tribute to Woodrick in her own way.
“I am choosing to remember LuAnn by being the best nurse that I can be. Every day, she did her best to mold young nurses and I will honor her by fulfilling her work.”
Donations for the School of Nursing in memory of LuAnn Woodrick should be sent to:
Development Office, IU South Bend
PO Box 7111
South Bend, IN 46634
Checks should be made out to ‘IU Foundation’.
‘In Memory of LuAnn Woodrick’ should go in the ‘For’ or Memo section of the check”.
