PREPARE RESPOND EVALUATE REPEAT ALUMNI ON THE FRONTLINES OF A PANDEMIC The rumblings of a highly contagious virus in China started making national and international headlines not long after the New Year. On January 29, the CDC launched an agency wide COVID-19 response. At the Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, media relations specialist Barbara Schindo ’11-’18m is used to the unpredictable nature of her work. But by the end of February, this felt different.
“It dawned on me, this is going to be a big deal. How are we responding to this, and how will it change the world?” Following the CDC announcement, WellSpan Health’s Julie Kupchella ’07, strategic communication coordinator, and Jeannie Constable ’08, director of marketing and public relations, began developing the mounting messages they needed to communicate to their wide range of key publics. “Nothing tests you like a global health pandemic. In this new normal, we had to be better communicators,” said Constable. Devon Heberlig ’11 (right), director of the Division of Emergency Planning and Safety Operation for the Department of Human Services, studied the situation as it unfolded across the country and prepared for what was to come. During an emergency, he said it’s important to get the right information to the right audiences at the right time. But the unpredictable nature of the pandemic made this goal challenging. “It’s hard to make sound and timely decisions with incomplete and inaccurate information.” On March 3, the CDC published the first report with guidance on how to prepare for a COVID-19 surge in the United States. By Monday, March 16, Governor Tom Wolf announced that all K-12 Pennsylvania schools were to close. Dr. Khalid N. Mumin, superintendent at Reading Area School District, empathized that the closure, “… turned how we educate kids upside down.” Like so many educators, Rasheed Dandridge ’17 (right), 2020 Teacher of the Year at Stetson Academy in Philadelphia, committed to transitioning his relationship-centered English classroom to online learning, knowing there were students who still needed his support. On March 27, the CDC released a Level 3 Pandemic Global Health Alert, and began publishing weekly morbidity and mortality reports. “The way the world changed overnight is mind blowing,” Schindo said. Around the same time, COVID-19 hit Pennsylvania full force and “things really came to a head,” said Caryn Earl ’98, director of the Bureau of Food Assistance and Department of Agriculture. Despite the crisis, in every situation, Ship alumni rose to the occasion, applying their skills and experience around the clock to keep Pennsylvanians safe and healthy.
An Unfolding Emergency Responding during the height of the pandemic, Barbara Schindo ’11-’18m shares important information with the public from Penn State Hershey.
Services, treatments, procedures, and operations all changed in a matter of days for the healthcare industry. At WellSpan Health, Kupchella and
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