COVID Care Team

Photo Caption: COVID Care Team members (top row, left to right): Karen Johnson, Ty McKenzie, Gary McKenzie, and Becky Adams, with nursing students (bottom row) Ben Smith and Audrey Ludlow.

Care Team Helps Students and Employees Impacted by Covid

By Kaylie Webster

The COVID Response Care Team was created to help those at Snow College who contracted or were exposed to COVID-19. Whether it’s a student or a Snow College employee, the COVID Care Team spent many hours during 2020-21 helping and willing to help those in need.

The COVID Response Care Team has consisted of 13 Snow College employees: Rob Nielson, Karen Johnson, Gary McKenzie, Becky Adams, Donna Birk, Ty McKenzie, Leslee Cook, Annette Taylor, Nathan Beck, Matt Johnson, Heidi Stringham, Linda Lewellen, and Kevin Arrington.

Co-Chair Karen Johnson said, “The team was initially established in August [2020] before the school year began. We have had a few changes in members, but most have been on the team since then.”

Team member Ty McKenzie would also like to include nursing students among the list of team members. “They probably don’t directly count as team members, but the nursing students have been coming to help test every Wednesday and Thursday, he said. “They have been an enormous help and a pleasure to work with.”

Rebeckah Buckley, an allied health instructor, said, “Our nursing students [helped] to administer COVID testing in both Ephraim and Richfield. It has been a great experience for our students, and they have really liked administering these tests. The COVID [Response] Team has been outstanding to our students and has treated them with kindness and professionalism.”

One of the team’s biggest undertakings was to set up COVID-19 testing and vaccination locations. During the Spring 2021 semester, testing was offered on both the Ephraim and Richfield campuses. The team also helped with vaccination clinics on two different occasions. They spaced out the two days so that students and employees who previously got their first dose of the Moderna vaccine could get their second dose and be fully vaccinated by the end of the semester.

Snow College created a page on their website titled “COVID Response Care Team,” where students and employees can access information about what to do once they notice symptoms or have contracted COVID-19. The page also has information such as how to self-report and how to contact members of the COVID team.

The page also has links to the CDC guidelines, which explain the differences between quarantine and isolation. The CDC states, “quarantine keeps someone who was in close contact with someone who has COVID-19 away from others. Isolation is meant to keep someone with COVID-19 away from others.”

Once a student contacted one of the team members, “we help[ed] them with any academic needs they may have, as well as some personal needs they might be in need of,” Johnson stated. Team members, such as Donna Birk, delivered meals to students who have a meal plan. Birk and other team members also helped students with Walmart runs; a student ordered and paid for the groceries, then team members picked up and delivered the groceries to a student’s dorm room.

The team’s plans are still being formulated for the 2021-22 school year, said Johnson. Current plans include encouraging students to get vaccinated and hosting more vaccine clinics. “We will continue to be a mask-friendly campus as well,” she added.

Team member Linda Lewellen said that Snow College’s pandemic response has been very effective. “I think Snow College has done a great job putting protocols in place to help the employees and, most importantly, students. I feel the numbers have kept relatively low. I think it is directly related to the protocols.”