Still Life

Students, faculty and staff were abruptly sent home in mid-March as COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, began to sweep across the country. It had already spread across China and Italy, causing the university to call home nine students studying at American University of Rome just ahead of a State Department travel ban.

Commencement ceremonies planned for both campuses were postponed, given that large gatherings are not currently permitted by the health departments in either state.

And the dorms were largely emptied out, with the exception of about 150 students who either had no other place to go or who could not leave because their home countries were also under lockdown.

Classes resumed about two weeks later – but online. Most campus employees started working from home almost immediately, replacing in-person gatherings with conference calls or Zoom meetings.

While it is not the same, the work of the university continues.

As Gannon plans to resume in-person classes th the fall, teams of staff and faculty are at work on creating a safe environment that will promote learning while minimizing the health threat.

So far, the Gannon family has demonstrated its generosity and its ingenuity. When we learned some students didn’t have money to get home as school was closing, hundreds of staff and alumni stepped forward to create a fund that helped those students. Also, faculty – upon hearing of shortages of much-needed medical supplies – emptied out our labs in Erie and Ruskin and donated ventilators, masks, 3D-printed face shields and other items to nearby hospitals. Many students, too, are using their talents to creatively serve needs in the community.

The urgency to close the university has been replaced with a resolve to reopen it carefully and safely – and soon.

After all, the quiet halls just don’t feel right.

As of the last week of March, the university has donated 425 face masks, 93 goggles, 60 mask and shield combinations, 72 N95 masks, 36 cases of gloves, 728 pairs of surgical gloves, and 196 isolation gowns to the following hospitals: Erie’s UPMC Hamot, Saint Vincent Hospital, EmergyCare, and a physician’s clinic in Spartansburg where a Gannon faculty member works.

The college has additionally offered and loaned ventilators and ventilator equipment and circuits, which are typically used in its respiratory care program, to UPMC Hamot, Millcreek Community Hospital, and Allegheny Health Network.

Similar efforts have been made at Gannon’s Ruskin campus to source supplies to health care providers at Manatee Memorial Hospital in Florida. Sarah Ewing, Ph.D., dean of the Morosky College of Health Professions and Sciences, expressed the desire to support the community in this way.

“Gannon University works closely with health care professionals throughout the Erie and Ruskin communities. Many of them are alumni, clinical educators or preceptors for our students and colleagues. It was important to us to share whatever resources we had available to help keep our colleagues safe as they strive to keep caring for our community,” Ewing said.

“Our science and health professional faculty reached out immediately to coordinate efforts to organize and donate any supplies that we had available that could be used by our local health care providers in both Erie, Pa. and Ruskin, Fla.,” Ewing added. “The actions of our faculty are a testament to their generosity and our commitment to our communities and colleagues within the health professions.”

Rhodes, who recently graduated with an early childhood special education degree, had been working at Tracy Elementary School in Millcreek when her first-grade classroom closed.

“I suddenly found myself not doing what I was doing every single day, but still wanted to contribute to my class and other children in the area in some way,” Rhodes said.

That’s when Rhodes posted a video of herself on Instagram reading a children’s book. The first response to the video came from her nephew, who after watching it requested another book.

Rhodes said she found the request to be “super sweet,” and so she did more.

She has been posting videos almost daily since the initial one in late March – and her 15 first-grade students at the elementary school along with other local children have become devoted followers.

“What I really care about is how the kids respond,” Rhodes said. “They will make requests for certain books or talk about their own books. That’s awesome.”

The goal, Rhodes said, is to bring a sense of normalcy and routine back to students. But it is also about promoting literacy, even in times of change.

“Students in the area either previously didn’t or don’t yet have curriculum coming their way, but are still encouraged to participate in enrichment activities,” Rhodes said, which is why she wanted to make reading an option for them.

It didn’t surprise Nancy Morris ‘03, ‘12M, assistant professor of the education program at Gannon, that Hannah had taken it upon herself to create these readaloud videos.

“That’s the kind of person she is – someone who is imaginative, creative, a problemsolver, and who is the first person to jump in to help when she sees a need, especially if it involves children,” Morris said. “Hannah never stops, and I’m always impressed with her level of drive and determination to make a difference in this world.”

Devine collected the printers – which had become available after the university moved its classes online – into a single laboratory space and launched a production of face shields for local health care personnel to use on the frontlines of the pandemic.

Davide Piovesan, Ph.D., chair of the biomedical engineering program at Gannon, had contacts with local Erie hospitals that led to conversations about the need for protective equipment for health care workers. Devine recognized his own resources could lend support and teamed up with Steven Rowland ’18, lab engineer for the electrical engineering program, to begin printing.

“There’s a movement in the open-source community to 3D print and laser-cut face shields for the hospitals to use,” Devine said. “We found some designs online, and since we have a lot of 3D printers and a laser cutter here in the biomedical engineering department, (we were) able to start producing these.”

Their efforts quickly garnered support from local businesses, community members and the Gannon family.

“We originally planned to do maybe 300 of these shields,” Devine said. “The project is absolutely exploding with companies and individuals who want to help us out. That’s been really neat to see for us.”

A partnership with Polymer Molding Inc. shifted production from 3D-printing to a process of injection molding, which allowed the team to increase production to about 6,000 face shields to date with the donated supplies and help in assembling from Gannon and PMI members. They’ve donated them to local hospitals, health care facilities and other groups including LECOM, Saint Vincent Hospital, EmergyCare, Sarah A. Reed Children’s Center, Erie VA Medical Center, the Erie Police Department, a hospital in Clarion and another in Cannonsburg, and Gannon’s Health Services Center and Police and Safety Office. They also donated remaining supplies to others who are making face shields.

The team received a $23,000 grant from the Erie County Gaming Revenue Authority and a $5,000 contribution from LECOM for the project. A further $2,500 came from Gannon alumna Michelle Schryver Peck ’93, BSN, and David Peck, and $2,500 from other individuals and local businesses.

Two Erie companies – Industrial Sales and Manufacturing and Leader Graphics – also helped obtain the needed material for the project while Fairview High School has remained engaged as a second 3D printing site under STEM and gifted administrator and Gannon adjunct Ryan Bookhamer. Nine engineers from LORD Corp. also aided in Gannon’s 3D printing efforts.

“It is great to see the power of the Gannon family rallying around each other and rallying around our community to make a difference,” Gannon President Keith Taylor, Ph.D., said. “So I want to say from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for all that you are doing and all of you who are contributing to this project.”

And so it was at Gannon, as the university closed suddenly with the approach of COVID-19. The closure left many students struggling to find money to buy groceries or to get home.

In response, the University Advancement Office in collaboration with the Office of Mission and Ministry launched a campaign that resulted in nearly $20,000 in emergency funding to alleviate student needs associated with COVID-19.

To date, the funds have supported about 180 students with food and housing assistance, domestic and international travel expenses, and resources for remote learning.

Father Michael Kesicki, associate vice president of University Mission and Ministry, said trustees, alumni, faculty, staff and other caring students revealed Gannon’s generous heart.

“The amount of money raised so quickly represents the connectedness of the Gannon family and the care we have for one another, especially the most vulnerable,” Kesicki said.

This swift community response proved impactful for many students, including some who had requested support for international flights home, for example.

“Students were anxious about the possibility of air travel being suspended with no possibility to travel back home,” Kesicki said. Two of these students were able to return to their homes in Australia and India 20 hours in advance of airports closing international flights, thanks to the funding.

Many other students received help with groceries and gas purchases.

Kesicki said the initiative to fund support for students in need holds a broader impact for the future, as well.

“This has raised an awareness of the kind of needs students face and the opportunities for us as a university to alleviate some of those needs,” Kesicki said. “Moving forward, this will be a regular thing.”