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A familiar refrain has carried Caleb Moore and his peers in the College of Health Sciences and Professions (CHSP) through their senior year: “If not me, who? If not now, when?”

Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, that famous quote—attributed widely to both Ronald Reagan and Hillel the Elder—had acted as a class mantra for milestone undertakings such as the 2019 Purple Gala benefiting opioid addiction awareness and the HumanKind Blood Drive, said to be the largest of its kind in Southeast Ohio.

“That saying has been floating through our program this whole year,” shares Moore. “It’s always been the mindset that was ingrained in us.”

But no one could have predicted just how much of a rallying cry it would come to be in the face of a global pandemic. On April 18, Moore joined 95 CHSP students and 227 Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine students in graduating almost one month earlier than planned in order to enter the health care ranks during an intense time of need.

“It’s incredibly inspiring,” says Moore. “The University saw a need in the world and acted quickly to meet it, [saying], ‘We’re going to find a way for students to go into the workforce, and we’re going to make it happen now.’”

Moore is proof positive of that resolution, now ensconced in his new role at the Cleveland Clinic’s George M. and Linda H. Kaufman Center for Heart Failure and Recovery—and, like his fellow CHSP graduates, granted a temporary nursing license to facilitate the transition as quickly as possible.

“In a crisis situation, I always want to be the person who helps in any way they can,” says Moore. “Being able to start this job one month sooner was great.” 

Along with the expedited group of graduates, current students have also been given opportunities to engage on a meaningful level in what United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called “the greatest test [the world has] faced together” since World War Two. In partnership with the Ohio Department of Health, approximately 250 third-year medical students took part in a four-week COVID-19 public health rotation during the height of the crisis, while over 100 CHSP students and faculty joined a newly mobilized statewide volunteer force to help with contact tracing and manning health hotlines.

 “In crisis, there is an opportunity to make a difference,” says Randy Leite, CHSP dean. “We know we’re already the largest health college in Ohio with over 9,000 students, but we also want to be the most responsive.”

Onto the frontlines

As the COVID-19 crisis worsened in early March, Heritage College Executive Dean Ken Johnson knew it was time to make a sharp right turn. “Students were losing the ability to have the kinds of clinical experiences they needed because of limited PPE (personal protective equipment),” says Johnson, who also serves as OHIO’s chief medical affairs officer.

Johnson called an urgent meeting of all medical school deans in Ohio to discuss what would come next. “Based off what I was seeing on the landscape nationally, it became clear to me that we would pull students off rotations,” says Johnson. “[I told the group], ‘I have a crazy idea I’d like to run by you: I want to pull all medical school students off clinical rotation, but there is an opportunity for training here. We can modify [rotations] to include public health, infectious disease, and epidemiology.”

From there, things moved quickly—within days, the Ohio Department of Health was fully engaged in the emerging public health rotation, and within two weeks, a curriculum was developed with 20 online modules from blood supply safety to social distancing to handwashing and disinfection.

“Higher education isn’t typically thought of as moving very fast, and nor is government,” says Johnson. “We went from a ‘crazy idea’ on a Saturday to commitment and moving ahead in about 16 days. It’s almost unheard of, and I’m so proud of having been able to do that.”

As a result, approximately 250 members of the medical class of 2021 were matched with local health departments and agencies around the state for a special four-week clinical rotation. While some rotations were conducted remotely and others on-site, all revolved around learning about prevention, control, and treatment of COVID-19.

Not only were OHIO medical students able to alleviate the burden on the state’s health care system, but the experience will also better position them for the fast-shifting state of the medical field. Johnson believes telehealth is now “here to stay,” and that it will be necessary for students to understand how to deliver “empathic care from a distance.” To that end, he anticipates the new public health rotation becoming an ongoing offering next year, but with smaller cohorts of students.

“Our students have been able to progress in their medical education while responding to an absolutely unprecedented worldwide pandemic,” says Johnson. “This is an experience people will be talking about for generations to come. This pandemic is shifting the ways we deliver care, and I would rather they be on the frontlines with it.”

Joining forces to  help

While the medical school was preparing to shift course in March, important conversations were also happening inside the College of Health Sciences and Professions. In hopes of mounting a significant volunteer effort, the Ohio Department of Health contacted Bill Burke, dean of the Heritage College’s Dublin Campus, and Rick Hodges, OHIO’s Health Policy Executive-in-Residence.

“They requested our help with mobilizing students and faculty to fill in as contact tracers and health communicators for local health departments,” explains Hodges, who previously served as the director of the Ohio Department of Health from 2014 through 2017.

OHIO delivered in a big way—though five other schools and universities were also enlisted, OHIO comprised over half of the student volunteers and two-thirds of the faculty volunteers throughout the state. To date, volunteers have been deployed to 19 local health departments and four community health centers.

Like Johnson, Hodges marvels at the speed and ease with which it all came together.

“There has been a tremendous response from the student body and faculty,” says Hodges. “Our school has been a leader in this effort, and we should really be proud of the way Bobcats have responded.”