Retired nurse teaching aspiring health care workers dies of COVID, Texas college says
Iris Meda, a retired nurse, wanted to give back to her community during the coronavirus pandemic.
The 70-year-old began teaching classes at Collin College in North Texas this fall after leaving a career in long-term health, the school says. She taught in the college’s health professions program and students at a local high school.
It was at the high school that a nursing student tested positive for COVID-19 in early October, and Meda contracted the virus days later, according to an email to college employees obtained by Inside Higher Ed.
Meda died of the illness on Nov. 14.
“She was doing what she loved,” Meda’s daughter, Selene Meda-Schlamel, told KXAS. “Despite the risks, she was living life to the fullest. On her own terms at the time. Trying to prepare future nurses for this country.”
A Charleston, South Carolina, native, Meda earned her nursing degree in New York City before working as a nurse at Rikers Island Correction Facility, her daughter told The Washington Post.
After moving to Texas, she was a nurse at the Lew Sterrett Justice Center in Dallas and later worked at the North Texas Job Corps as a nursing clinic administrator, the newspaper reported.
“For her, this was also a service to her country, being able to usher nursing assistants into the work field during a pandemic when they are most needed,” Meda-Schlamel told The Washington Post. “I hope that students realize the compromise that their teachers are putting themselves in and recognize that they are themselves heroes.”
In statement to McClatchy News, Collin College President Neil Matkin offered condolences to Meda’s family.
“Professor Meda’s family shared that she was honored to serve as an instructor at Collin College, and we are sincerely grateful for her service to our students,” Matkin said.
This story was originally published November 24, 2020 at 5:58 PM with the headline "Retired nurse teaching aspiring health care workers dies of COVID, Texas college says."