Brandon Sun By: Kimberley Kielley Andrea Thomson has stared into the face of the pandemic. Advertisement Literally. She swabs nasal passages for testing of COVID-19 for Shared Health on a casual basis since April 2020. As a registered psychiatric nurse (RPN), Thomson is part of the COVID response unit. She’s also an assistant professor at Brandon University in the Department of Psychiatric Nursing. She has taught theory-based courses to second-, third- and fourth-year psychiatric nursing students since August 2018. She has seen the look on people’s faces as they enter the testing site to be tested for a virus that could potentially kill them.