A Duty to Respond

Whether directing traffic at the FedEx Field testing site, contact tracing for Prince George’s County or responding on social media to misinformation, Myles Davenport ’17 has spent the last nine months playing one role after another in the response to the coronavirus pandemic. As a UMD graduate student pursuing a Master of Public Health degree, he saw it as his obligation.

“It was a great learning opportunity to apply our public health skills and knowledge, and help the community at the same time,” he said. “Most public health workers are the same—we’re very empathetic and eager to serve.”

Faced with one of the greatest infectious disease challenges of the past century, students, faculty and staff of UMD’s School of Public Health have spent much of this year mobilizing in a variety of ways to help meet the demands of an unprecedented modern pandemic.

That effort has taken on new urgency across the state, as Gov. Larry Hogan last week urged colleges and universities in Maryland to develop emergency policies and procedures to award academic credit to students for hands-on work experience in health care during the pandemic, and to support getting them into the workforce quickly.

“As a school of public health situated within a public, land-grant institution, we are full partners in working with the state,” said Dushanka Kleinman, associate dean for research and principal associate dean at SPH, and a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics. “This is an opportunity of a lifetime to respond.”

The response in April began with a call for the SPH community to sign up for the Maryland Responds Medical Reserve Corps, a volunteer organization that includes everyone from physicians and nurses to interpreters and legal advisers to respond to natural disasters and public health emergencies. About 130 students have answered the call so far, and two dozen others have worked as contact tracers, according to Erin McClure, SPH director of operations and diversity officer. The push for volunteers will continue as COVID cases continue to rise and stress the state health care system. As of Thursday, Maryland had reported almost 226,000 cases and about 4,800 deaths from COVID-19, with more than 1,700 people currently hospitalized.

"It's heartening that students feel called to serve the community and translate their academic knowledge into public health practice,” McClure said.

As more traditional student internships halted in the spring amid statewide shutdowns, SPH also partnered with advocacy groups to help moderate and provide technical support for community meetings, and students conducted health literacy assessments of county-level COVID dashboards.

Nafisa Koroma ’21, a public health science major, worked for the city through the College Park City-University Partnership from July through October researching testing sites and availability and writing and designing graphics, flyers and social media posts to inform the community. Koroma said she learned how many different skills go into addressing health crises, and was gratified to see her flyers posted around town and in shops and restaurants.

“This is a very crucial time and we can get a lot of experience out of this in ways to handle pandemics and epidemics,” she said. “I can be a helping hand.”

With COVID vaccinations now on the horizon—the first distributions in Maryland are scheduled for next week—SPH faculty and staff have also started meetings with Prince George’s County government on ways UMD can help with distribution and communications. They are also exploring ways to build a more efficient pipeline for graduating students to immediately join local health agencies.

“The public’s health guides us and is the inspiration for the school,” Kleinman said. “We have so much more work to do.”