COVID-19

Pharmacy professors, researchers, administrators and students answered the state Health Department’s call for assistance in case investigation, contact tracing and cluster outbreak management. Experts from the College advised the state and residents on such issues as testing procedures and the importance of social distancing. The College’s Pharmaceutical Development Institute produced hand sanitizer at a time it was particularly difficult to find. Professors volunteered to fill the severe shortage of pharmacists at the state field hospitals, should they become active, and others worked directly with the state performing outreach to positive patients and helping with contact tracing. Students also signaled their willingness to enter the fray, taking advantage of the state’s offer to issue emergency 90-day licenses to bring more pharmacists into frontline healthcare positions, and some others are working with a professor in the College’s labs on COVID-19 testing technology.. The college collected N95 masks, ventilators, gloves, disposable gowns, face shields, IV poles, laboratory equipment and hospital beds to donate to area hospitals. College personnel also collected iPads and Fire tablets to donate to hospitals and nursing homes for quarantined patients to use, and provided ongoing tech support. “I was amazed by the diversity and creativity of our initiatives during the initial stages of the COVID pandemic,” professor and dean E. Paul Larrat told the Providence Journal. “Our faculty, staff and students unselfishly stepped in to help those at greatest risk of contracting the virus in a very stressful environment.”

Read on for more details on the College’s response to the pandemic.

Clinical Professor Rita Marcoux and Senior Development Scientist Saleh Allababidi produce hand sanitizer in the College’s Pharmaceutical Development Institute.

Aiming to fill local shortages and meet growing demand to help slow the spread of COVID-19, the University of Rhode Island Pharmaceutical Development Institute produced its own line of hand sanitizer in its labs in the College of Pharmacy. Scientists in the Institute began producing Rhody Blue and Rhody Clear hand sanitizer, which contain 75% isopropyl alcohol, early on during the coronavirus pandemic. The Rhode Island Department of Health certified the Institute to produce the sanitizer as the coronavirus pandemic led to empty shelves in many stores. It was produced and bottled in the labs in Avedisian Hall, the College’s home on URI’s Kingston campus. The Institute filled 8-ounce bottles of Rhody Blue gel sanitizer for distribution throughout the URI campus and to donate to first responders and medical facilities around the state. In addition, the Institute made Rhody Clear liquid hand sanitizer for the state Department of Corrections in half-gallon bottles for use in its facilities.

“A demand for hand sanitizer was expressed from the University and from some of our external partners, so we put an emergency response team together to help meet the need,” Institute Acting Director Cathy Curtin-Miller said. “Staff members have selflessly volunteered to be part of the response effort to the virus, led by Dr. Saleh Allababidi, our senior development scientist and a faculty member with the College.”

College of Pharmacy faculty, staff and students helped collect personal protective equipment and other supplies to donate to area medical facilities to help fill shortages.

Despite an economic downturn, alumni and friends were generous to the College’s Annual Fund, subsidizing relief PPE, funding the URI humanitarian iPad & Fire tablet initiative, providing student aid, and underwriting COVID-testing research.

— Lou DiFazio ’64, P’86, H’97, retired

President of Technical Operations,

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company

The College donated dozens of iPads to local hospitals, helping quarantined patients connect with their loved ones and with the outside world while battling COVID-19 in isolation.

In addition, IT staff members from around the university volunteered to set up hundreds of Fire tablets Amazon had donated to the state. These were transferred to hospitals, nursing homes and medical facilities around the area.

“The intention is to provide all hospitals across the state with the tablets, and then also to provide hospice centers and nursing homes,” said Ian Lester, manager of Technology Services for the College, who is heading up URI’s involvement in the project. “The goal is to help connect patients suffering with the disease with their family and loved ones.” The initiative began when the Rhode Island Medical Society put out a call for extra devices on behalf of Covid Connectors, a new nonprofit organization dedicated to helping COVID-19 patients communicate while in isolation. Lester located iPads not being used by College personnel. He formatted the iPads, set up Apple IDs, uploaded necessary software like Zoom, and delivered them to Lifespan, the state’s largest healthcare system. He stepped in again after online retailer Amazon donated 540 of its Fire tablets for use at other Rhode Island hospitals. Lester organized IT staff members from around the university to assist in getting the tablets ready for use. Lester continues to deliver tablets to tech staff for formatting, in addition to preparing dozens of them himself. The initiative’s success led to leadership and support for a similar effort in New Jersey.

More than 100 recent graduates from the URI College of Pharmacy found themselves in the COVID-19 fight earlier than they ever expected, helping fill a critical shortage of pharmacists, thanks to emergency 90-day licenses the state Department of Health is issuing. Students who hadn’t yet graduated but had completed their doctor of pharmacy degree requirements in March, were eligible to begin working at the beginning of the pandemic after receiving their emergency licenses, delaying the licensing exam for 90 days. “Usually it takes graduates several months after graduating to get their licenses, and they wouldn’t be out there working until the end of summer,” said Clinical Professor Brett Feret. “The goal is to get them out at the field hospitals helping in the fight against the virus instead of worrying about studying for their boards over the next few months.”

The new graduates were qualified to operate as registered pharmacists, adding to the health care workers on the front lines, and helping spell pharmacists who had been pulling long hours fighting the pandemic, and those who have been exposed to the virus in their public-facing roles.

URI College of Pharmacy graduates are all over the front lines of the pandemic, in hospitals, medical facilities and pharmacies.

URI College of Pharmacy student Lauren Eng has been serving patients in a CVS pharmacy in Astoria, NY, during the pandemic.

I am a P2 Pharmacy major from Queens, NY, with a double minor in biology and leadership studies. I’ve been working at CVS pharmacy for two years now, and I am working at a 24-hour store here in Astoria, Queens, which was hit the hardest of the five boroughs. Here at my CVS in Astoria, I am working mainly on drop off, consultation and data entry of new prescriptions. There have been many challenges, but we’ve been working through them. Some challenges are as simple as having difficulty hearing patients through the plastic barriers and their masks. Other difficulties we have experienced include a lot of medications on back order, including generic rescue inhalers, which has also created a lot of issues for patients who normally carry rescue inhalers. We also have had a difficult time getting in controlled substances like opioids for pain, which has resulted in a lot of patients not being able to continue their therapy for treatment of chronic pain. I have seen a lot of prescriptions coming in for Z-Packs and Hydroxychloroquine. Many of these prescriptions now require prior authorizations from insurance companies to prevent overprescribing, so it is very difficult to tell patients that they may not be able to pick up their medications or may have a delay in care due to the prior authorizations. One elderly patient who had been taking Hydroxychloroquine for rheumatoid arthritis for 10 years couldn’t get her prescription because it was on back order. She was very upset to hear that I couldn’t fill it for her. But a week later, I was able to. I recognize how important the medication was to her, and I was so happy I was able to get it filled for her.