Last spring during the initial surge of the pandemic, The Trinity Reporter<\/em> spoke with seven members of the college community on the front lines of health care to learn how COVID-19 has changed their working lives. These professionals continue to battle through an unprecedented time, using their expertise to save the lives of others.<\/strong><\/p>\n When early models predicted Boston to be an epicenter for COVID-19, Massachusetts General Hospital began preparations that included increasing the number of intensive care unit (ICU) beds for critically ill patients. For Phoebe Yager, M.D., \u201992<\/strong>, chief of the hospital\u2019s Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, and her team, that meant \u201credeploying\u201d their pediatric ICU to accommodate adult COVID-19 patients.<\/p>\n While their pediatric patients were transferred to other facilities, Yager and her colleagues stayed put. \u201cWe felt, as a high-functioning team, we would be more successful together than being deployed to other units,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n She spent most of March preparing her team to tackle COVID-19. Staff safety was a top priority. There were eight-hour Zoom meetings and constant revisions to schedules and staffing models, she says. \u201cIt felt like building a plane while flying it.\u201d<\/p>\n Transitioning from treating children to adults while implementing COVID-19 care recommendations was a challenge, says Yager. But keeping her team together minimized unnecessary changes to personnel and the environment. \u201cIt was the most important factor in our success,\u201d she says, adding, \u201cWatching each patient graduate from our ICU has been emotional and heartwarming.\u201d <\/p>\n When COVID-19 patients are released from Morton Hospital in Taunton, Massachusetts, where James Davenport \u201977<\/strong> is a nurse, the theme song from the movie Rocky <\/em>is played over the intercom. \u201cIt\u2019s encouraging,\u201d says Davenport, who has 33 years in the profession. \u201cIt shows us that we\u2019re beating this illness.\u201d <\/p>\n In response to the pandemic, the hospital administration decided to admit COVID-19 patients exclusively, he says. \u201cThis helps focus care and the use of personal protective equipment [PPE]. It also helps nurses and doctors see patterns of the illness, which leads to better treatments and outcomes.\u201d <\/p>\n Davenport works in the hospital\u2019s emergency room and also treats critically ill COVID-19 patients in its ICU. Many of them are older and have underlying health issues, he says. \u201cIn the advanced stage, patients present with low blood pressure and multiple organ failure, he says. \u201cIt ravages the entire body.\u201d<\/p>\n Though Davenport is in close contact with these patients, he\u2019s not concerned for himself but for the families that cannot be with their loved ones at such a critical time, noting that the presence of family members is a humanizing factor. \u201cThey help us fill in the gaps in our patients\u2019 lives,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n When Sara Stevens \u201906<\/strong> first read reports about the virus coming to the United States, she, too, became worried\u2014not for herself, but for her patients. \u201cIt was like watching a train come off the track, knowing there was nothing we could do,\u201d she says. A nurse practitioner at Mass General Cancer Center, Stevens works predominately with lung cancer patients, who are considered high-risk for complications of COVID-19.<\/p>\n \u201cI had a very real concern about how they would get their care in a safe and effective way,\u201d she says. Clinic protocols changed rapidly, and she began to see some patients through virtual visits, reserving face-to-face contact for those needing chemotherapy or other direct care. Though she misses close contact with all of her patients, she appreciated a special virtual visit with a woman she has followed for three years. \u201cAfter the appointment, she showed me her garden and all the flowers she has told me about over the years,\u201d says Stevens. \u201cThat couldn\u2019t have happened in the office.\u201d<\/p>\n An internist and president of Providence Medical Associates in Los Angeles, Elizabeth Sander, M.D., P\u201916<\/strong> also misses patient contact. In addition to being responsible for overseeing the medical group, with its 17 sites and 200 providers, she sees patients two days a week. With COVID-19, these visits are conducted virtually, as are her meetings. \u201cThe sense of isolation is often overwhelming,\u201d she says. \u201cI forget how social we are.\u201d<\/p>\n COVID-19 also affects Sander\u2019s family life. Because of travel restrictions, she can\u2019t see husband John DiFiori, M.D., P\u201916, a sports medicine specialist at a hospital in New York City. Their daughter, Monica DiFiori \u201916, in her third year at Temple University\u2019s Lewis Katz School of Medicine, traveled to California to take her medical boards. Due to the pandemic, the exams were canceled, and she was unable to return to medical school in Philadelphia. \u201cIt\u2019s a strange time,\u201d says Sander.<\/p>\n Professionally, her biggest challenge was dealing with all the uncertainty in the early stages of the pandemic. Information about the virus was coming in so quickly that Sander and her staff constantly had to regroup. \u201cWhat worked in one moment completely changed three hours later,\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s very unsettling for people who are scientifically trained.\u201d<\/p>\n A pediatrician and specialist in the genetic diseases that plague the Amish and Mennonites of Pennsylvania, D. Holmes Morton, M.D., IDP\u201979 <\/strong>is experiencing a unique set of challenges during the pandemic. His goal is to protect his vulnerable patients from contracting COVID-19 by finding pre-symptomatic carriers who may infect others in this insular population. But, he says, that\u2019s not easy among the Plain People, who do not consume media and often are unaware how to protect themselves.<\/p>\n Despite its rural location, Morton\u2019s Central Pennsylvania Clinic in Belleville, Pennsylvania, offers cutting-edge COVID-19 testing and, in an attempt to increase access with a drive-through service, accommodates horse-pulled buggies. Still, he says, \u201cwe are undercounting, undertesting, and little is being done to stop the spread of COVID-19 in the Plain communities \u2026 gatherings of all kinds continue to feed the [virus].\u201d<\/p>\n For Raphael Viscidi, M.D., \u201970, P\u201905<\/strong>, a virologist and professor of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, second-guessing viruses is all in a day\u2019s work.<\/strong> His research interests include human coronaviruses. When COVID-19 first appeared, Viscidi became curious about why it can cause severe infections in older people but often spares children. \u201cThis is dramatically different than other respiratory viruses, which infect the elderly and <\/em>the very young.\u201d This is because young children lack exposure to disease, which means they have few protective antibodies, Viscidi explains. <\/p>\n \u201cBut some viruses, like the dengue virus, stimulate enhancing antibodies. The first time you get infected, you\u2019re OK, but the second time, you might go into hemorrhagic shock.\u201d He thinks the reason older people are hit harder may be because they have enhancing antibodies due to repeated exposure to coronaviruses, which cause the common cold; he\u2019s testing his theory in the lab using serum samples.<\/p>\n Clinical research coordinator Zachary Bitan \u201917, M\u201918<\/strong> and his colleagues at Columbia University Irving Medical Center are taking a different look at antibodies and their role in COVID-19. Through a randomized, controlled trial, they are giving critically ill COVID-19 patients transfusions of plasma from individuals who have recovered from the virus. Their hope is that antibodies contained in the plasma will help sick patients fight the disease.<\/p>\n Bitan\u2014who plans to begin his studies at Technion American Medical School in Israel in October\u2014oversees recruitment of plasma donors and coordinates the delivery of plasma to ICU units. \u201cNurses and support staff are the true heroes of this pandemic,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen I am in the ICUs, I am in awe of how the nurses care for COVID-19 patients as if they were their own family.\u201d<\/p>\n How does ICU nurse Davenport feel about being seen as a hero? While he appreciates the outpouring of public support, he doesn\u2019t feel like one. \u201cI\u2019m just doing my job,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n Sander echoes his sentiment: \u201cThis is what we do; this is what we signed up for.\u201d<\/p>\n Trinity alumni in a variety of fields\u2014in addition to health care\u2014are helping others during the pandemic through their jobs or volunteer work. The following list showcases just a sample of Bantams doing good, in ways large and small.<\/p>\n Mona Deng \u201916<\/strong>: rising fourth-year med student at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA established LA COVID Volunteers (LACV) along with classmates in March, organizing volunteers to support health care workers <\/p>\n Rhoden Monrose \u201909<\/strong>: founder and CEO of CariClub, which, in partnership with Charity Navigator, started Community Inclusion Fund to raise $500 million to help vulnerable communities that have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 <\/p>\n Jim Murren \u201983<\/strong>: former MGM Resorts International CEO leads Nevada\u2019s COVID-19 Response, Relief, and Recovery Task Force <\/p>\n Brooke Raymond \u201990<\/strong>: coordinates delivery of PPE from overseas to hospitals through the nonprofit Operation Mask Lift <\/p>\n Shawn Wooden \u201991<\/strong>: Connecticut state treasurer calls on companies to retain workers, provide paid leave during the COVID-19 pandemic <\/p>\n To learn about more alumni who are giving their all during this time, please visit the Virtual Long Walk.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Health care workers with Trinity ties stand tall By Mary Howard Last spring during the initial surge of the pandemic, The Trinity Reporter spoke with seven members of the college community on the front lines of health care to learn how COVID-19 has changed their working lives. These professionals continue to battle through an unprecedented time, … <\/p>\n![\"Phoebe](\"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-fall2020\/files\/2020\/09\/Phoebe-Yager1_BW.jpg\")
![\"James](\"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-fall2020\/files\/2020\/09\/James-Davenport_BW-e1600442578993-300x257.jpg\")
![\"Nurse](\"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-fall2020\/files\/2020\/09\/Sara-Stevens-PPE_BW.jpg\")
![\"Raphael](\"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-fall2020\/files\/2020\/09\/R-Viscidi_3_bw.jpg\")
All in this together<\/h3>\n