Stepping up for our communities

Dean's Blog | April 15, 2020

Judith Karshmer

Everywhere you look people are stepping up for their communities, coming together around a single mission, to get a hold of this pandemic.

At Edson College, our faculty, staff and students are lending their skills, time and health expertise to join this global effort.

Angie Masks — *Angie Haskovec, Edson College alumni coordinator has been making masks with her family. They have shipped more than 300 to essential workers.*

But I wanted to take a moment to shine the light on my colleagues and the culture we’ve built here at Edson. Of course, we’re not alone in these efforts, in fact, it’s just a drop in the collective and creative bucket. I’m so encouraged by what I’m seeing from nursing colleges and medical schools across the country.

Program directors are sewing masks for health care workers shipping them near and far. Our alumni coordinator and her family have made more than 300 masks for essential workers, turning it into a family activity.

*Nicole Anderson, nurse practitioner and faculty associate in the RN-BSN and CEP program (center) working alongside fellow Sun Devils.*

One of our faculty experts co-hosted a virtual town hall to share factual information with the Phoenix community about what’s going on and what people can do to stay safe and help slow the spread of this infectious disease.

Many of our faculty, including graduate students, have volunteered to work at drive-thru COVID testing sites, screening essential workers including their health care colleagues, firefighters, police officers and others.

making masks — *Cris Wells, clinical professor and senior director of academic operations has been sending masks to New York, and now donating them locally.*

And there’s more. Right now, a large number of our graduate nursing program students who are also RN’s are working in hospitals screening and in some cases caring for COVID-19 patients. Health heroes by day, homework warriors by night.

Talented innovators at Edson are using their skills to create an online group offering a safe space for health care professionals to lean on one another, share resources, innovations and more. It already has more than 2,200 members.

Our Center for Mindfulness, Compassion and Resilience has been holding free daily midday meditations since mid-March. These sessions have been a source of respite, release and reinvigoration for those who’ve tuned in to help turn down the daily noise.

megan nichols — *DNP student Megan Nichols in her PPE preparing to screen for COVID-19*

This isn’t even an exhaustive list. It’s just what I know about at this point. The Center’s Founding Director and Edson College Dean Emeritus Teri Pipe also lent her voice and expertise to the Arizona Department of Health Services, participating in PSA’s for the agency.

We really are all in this together and I can tell you, there’s no one else I’d rather battle this pandemic with than my Edson team.