News
April 22, 2020Bellevue University Student at the Forefront Working with COVID-19 Patients
We all know how challenging the current COVID-19 pandemic is, and hopefully everyone is doing their part in social distancing and working online. However, imagine if your job is taking you directly in contact with coronavirus patients, makes you work overtime hours with not being able to go to the grocery store until around closing hours, all while you are still taking your college classes online.
That is exactly what is happening to Erica Morillo, who is currently taking Microbiology at Bellevue University, while working at Albany Medical Center hospital in New York. She normally works in the cath lab, but early on in the pandemic they increased that workload because they knew patients would not be able to come in for non-emergency cardiac treatments. Now they have the staff spread out in different departments and working with coronavirus patients where needed. They are still doing critical cardiac procedures, but once those are done they focus on assisting in caring for COVID patients being transferred from NYC to their hospital.
“And it is insane right now, I work 10hr shifts, 4 days a week plus call. We still have been carrying out emergent cardiac procedures, but have to gown up and wear additional PPE like N-95 masks, goggles and face shields” says Erica.
“Our hospital has in place a system to protect ourselves as we care for these patients, but we have had to reuse our PPE materials which undergo a decontamination process.”
Through all this, Erica is trying to keep up with the microbiology course assignments and is using a laboratory kit at home to complete the labs from Hands on Labs. In a way this turned out to be a well-suited time to take a microbiology course where students learn all about working under sterile conditions and details about the growth and lifecycle of infectious microorganisms.
As if all of that wasn’t enough, currently Erica’s father is being treated for COVID-19 infection and has been battling with high fever and reduced lung capacity for the past two weeks. He is in NYC in the Bronx, NY. “So that has been stressful as well as convincing my family about protecting themselves and not going anywhere unnecessary” Erica states.
It is amazing to hear the stories of our students and their dedications and we are proud of how everyone is contributing in unprecedented ways to slow down the spread of COVID-19, while applying their course materials in real life. We wish Erica and her family the best of luck and are grateful to have her at the forefront of battling this pandemic!
To contact Bellevue University locally visit, transfer.bellevue.edu/sccc.
