With ESU\u2019s strong health services programs, it\u2019s not surprising that Warriors are on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. But alumni with criminal justice, social work and other degrees are also responding to this unprecedented national crisis.<\/p>\n
Here are just some of their stories.<\/p>\n
Caitlyn O\u2019Connell \u201916<\/strong><\/p>\n Registered nurse, New York Presbyterian-Columbia University Medical Center<\/strong><\/p>\n Bachelor of science, nursing<\/em><\/p>\n Caitlyn O\u2019Connell is experiencing the pandemic head on since her hospital surgical unit started treating COVID-19 patients in March. Staffing shortages are real, so she also works at Mount Sinai South Nassau on Long Island, where started her career.<\/p>\n She works 12-hours shifts, five to six days in a row. She cares for a half dozen patients a day. Most of them are in critical condition, requiring extreme amounts of oxygen and subject to sudden turns for the worse.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I find far greater than the physical toll, being on my feet all day long and in a constant state of dehydration, is the toll on me mentally. Many of these patients are dying unable to be surrounded by the familiar faces of their loved ones. This has been my biggest burden.\u201d<\/p>\n O\u2019Connell faces it using lessons learned as a lacrosse player.<\/p>\n \u201cESU is where I built my character. It\u2019s where I left every ounce of my energy on the field, where I set goals achieved through dedication and hard work, and where I strived to be a great student, player and even better teammate.<\/p>\n \u201cEach morning I put on my scrubs and go to work, I don\u2019t know what situations I may face, but I do know I will make it through the day,\u201d she says. \u201cESU helped shape me into the person I am today, someone who can find silver linings in their biggest burden.\u201d<\/p>\n Theodore Harkness \u201909<\/strong><\/p>\n Federal Emergency Management Agency, Washington, D.C.<\/strong><\/p>\n Bachelor of science, health services administration, ESU<\/em><\/p>\n Master\u2019s degree, disaster medicine and management, Philadelphia University<\/em><\/p>\n Theodore Harkness is a FEMA program manager, planning agency training. With that on hold, he\u2019s working from home 12 hours a day, leading a team connecting businesses with ways they can help, such as getting personal protective equipment (PPE) to medical personnel.<\/p>\n \u201cAssistance requests can be anything from \u2018I have a factory and can produce PPE, how do I do this\u2019 to \u2018I have a fleet of trucks that can transport PPE\/ ventilators, how can I help?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Working for the Philadelphia Red Cross for seven years helped prepare him for this work. \u201cIt taught me how to be flexible in an ever-changing environment, and that no matter how well you plan for any type of emergency, you need to be able to adapt.\u201d<\/p>\n Debbie Kulick \u201980<\/strong><\/p>\n President, Bushkill Emergency Corps, Marshalls Creek<\/strong><\/p>\n Owner, Eastern Monroe Leasing & Training, Bushkill<\/strong><\/p>\n Bachelor of science, education<\/em><\/p>\n For more than 45 years, Debbie Kulick has been a volunteer emergency medical technician with the Bushkill Emergency Corps, which she also serves as president. The coronavirus crisis has made for dramatic changes.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is the need to treat patients, but not to create a danger to the crews. All patients are treated as if they have COVID-19, masked. Providers are all masked with eye shields and gloves and if needed, don PPE suits or gowns.\u201d<\/p>\n Days are spent sanitizing trucks and buildings and keeping up with the latest news on coronavirus treatment. Trauma-related calls are fewer, though, because of the state\u2019s stay-at-home order.<\/p>\n Kulick puts her ESU degree to use as the owner of a personnel company that\u00a0 provides and trains EMS workers.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving my degree in education allowed me to expand my focus and become a provider who is also an educator,\u201d she says. \u201cIt has brought me great satisfaction as I see so many providers head into many fields of medicine after a start on an ambulance.\u201d<\/p>\n Jack Morris \u201919<\/strong><\/p>\n Street2Feet Outreach Center, Stroudsburg<\/strong><\/p>\n Bachelor of science, social work<\/em><\/p>\n Jack Morris is outreach case manager for Monroe County\u2019s only homeless day center, working with people very vulnerable to COVID-19 infection.<\/p>\n \u201cTimes are tough, but these times are exacerbated without having a roof over one\u2019s head,\u201d he says. Between social distancing and businesses being shut down, clients have a hard time finding places to get out of the elements and charge their phones.<\/p>\n In the name of safety, the center must turn away people for an isolation period if they have been to a high-exposure area, and can\u2019t accept new clients.<\/p>\n \u201cThe constant changes create lots of anxiety for them as well as us,\u201d Morris says. \u201cClients do not have a lot of outside resources to count on.\u201d<\/p>\n But they continue to surprise him with their ability to adapt.<\/p>\n \u201cThe love and support the clients show for one another every day is truly a testament to the resiliency and sense of family they have.\u201d<\/p>\n Alex Figueroa \u201911<\/strong><\/p>\n Pennsylvania State Police Troop K, Philadelphia<\/strong><\/p>\n Bachelor of science in sociology, criminal justice<\/em><\/p>\n State police officers are following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines as best they can, but can\u2019t practice real social distancing.<\/p>\n Trooper Alex Figueroa quotes the State Police Call of Honor, emphasizing that officers must enforce the law \u201cwithout any consideration to class, color, creed or condition.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re doing what we need to do,\u201d he says. \u201cWe have to come to work every day.\u201d<\/p>\n As a recruitment coordinator, Figueroa invites candidates to apply and be interviewed online, with testing to come later. \u201cWe\u2019re waiting, like everyone else,\u201d he says, to see when in-person contact will be allowed again.<\/p>\n At home, he and his wife are trying to keep life as normal as possible for their 2-year-old daughter, but he acknowledges \u201cour lives have changed.\u201d<\/p>\n Rylee Jade Legreide<\/strong><\/p>\n Hackettstown, N.J.<\/strong><\/p>\n Sophomore majoring in public health, health service administration<\/em><\/p>\n Student Rylee Jade Legreide has worked for more than two years as an EMT and a firefighter both in Monroe County and at home in New Jersey.<\/p>\n Between picking up overtime at her EMS job and extra shifts at volunteer agencies, she does not have time to go home.<\/p>\n \u201cI have not slept in my own bed in over two weeks now, and collectively have not spent more than one hour in my house since then. All of my agencies have showers and a kitchen so I am meeting my basic life necessities, but it is not the same as my bed at home.\u201d<\/p>\n Extreme cleaning makes up a typical day. \u201cOnce I get to work I have to spray my car down. I change into my work clothes. I take my temperature. After that I complete my rig check, checking the ambulance to make sure it is fully stocked. After that I have to completely wipe down the interior of the ambulance. Once the inside is cleaned, I clean the outside.\u201d<\/p>\n The end of on-campus classes has worked in her favor, since she can keep up with coursework online. Her professors understand if she can\u2019t make scheduled Zoom classes.<\/p>\n \u201cThey allow me to take timed quizzes\/exams at times that are convenient for me. All of my professors post their lectures online so even if I miss the live version I am able to look back at the lecture and not miss a beat.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With ESU\u2019s strong health services programs, it\u2019s not surprising that Warriors are on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. But alumni with criminal justice, social work and other degrees are also responding to this unprecedented national crisis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":19928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[143,42,220],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-news-release","category-points-of-pride-academic"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19924"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19924"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19929,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19924\/revisions\/19929"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}