Dear Members of the GUMC Community,
I write today to send my very best wishes to you and your family during Passover and Holy Week. At this very stressful time, with so much change in our lives, I hope these special days bring you support and comfort.
I appreciate the more than 480 of you who joined us April 1st for our first virtual community meeting; it was very good to reconnect, and to hear President DeGioia provide his wide perspective on the first weeks of our university response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We also had a chance to hear updates from our Medical Center leadership.
Since that virtual gathering, the School of Nursing & Health Studies, the School of Medicine, and our Biomedical Graduate Education programs continue to provide their curriculum fully online. We are watching these programs carefully with learner and teacher surveys and leadership oversight by the school deans and program directors, and overall the feedback has been very positive.
In addition to our ongoing research, carried out consistent with our original research guidelines, several of our investigators have turned their attention to coronavirus related work, including basic science focused on drug development, novel diagnostic studies and important databases. More than a dozen projects have been initiated. Our clinical faculty also are planning clinical trials to advance new therapies.
I also would like to pause and offer special recognition to our clinical faculty, nursing colleagues and all of the caregivers and hospital staff. These next few weeks will be exceptionally challenging for our friends and colleagues on the frontlines of patient care. MedStar Health wasted no time in preparing for this expected surge. MedStar Georgetown University Hospital has dramatically increased the number of ICU beds and negative pressure rooms (for infection control), developed a surge plan for nurses and physicians including cross training across specialty areas, conducted mock trainings, and ramped up PPE fittings.
The frontline of care across America now includes some of our students who are also in the military and have been called up into service in response to this outbreak. We remain truly grateful to all for their sacrifice and commend their incredible bravery. I look forward to the day when we can gather in person to celebrate and honor their contributions.
I also wish to express my deep concern for the health and safety of our community, as we begin to experience a steady rise in the DMV area of COVID-19 cases. This increase is not a surprise. I’d like to take this opportunity to remind you to please be vigilant in protecting yourself and others if you move about outside the home. It’s easy to become complacent as we adjust to changes in our environment, but now more than ever, this is not the time for that. Please follow public health guidance and stay inside as much as possible. Just as a brief reminder:
Working on Campus
Our medical center remains operational — Georgetown University’s policy is that all faculty and staff must work remotely with very limited exceptions. If you have not been approved to be on campus, please do not come to campus. This policy will remain in place until you’re notified otherwise. Access to campus buildings remains limited to GOCard only access. To protect the health and safety of those who must come to work, we are monitoring GOCard swipes so we can ensure only those approved to be on campus are accessing the buildings.
For those of you approved to be on campus, we’d like to remind you of these best practices:
- If you are not feeling well, please stay home and contact your supervisor;
- Organize work spaces and staffing to ensure 6 feet between any two people;
- Stagger schedules to reduce shift overlaps;
- Limit time in the lab or animal facility;
- Wear gloves and other personal protective equipment while in the lab or animal facility;
- Wash/sanitize hands frequently, including before and after being in your work space;
- If two people encounter one another, stay 6 feet apart;
We recognize there may be status changes in lab work and with colleagues working in labs. Please note, this form will remain active for the foreseeable future in the event you need to request approval of access for a reason not already approved.
New Pedestrian Access to GUMC
Parking remains free in the Hariri and Leavey Center parking lots for those approved to work on campus. While the Lombardi lobby remains closed to foot traffic, a pedestrian walkway will be created early next week on East-West Road to allow access to the medical center via the east side of the Research Building. Lot E remains only accessible via GOCard and will be used by MedStar GUH as they begin experiencing a workforce surge to cope with the COVID-19 outbreak in our region. Unapproved requests to access Lot E will be denied and redirected to park in Hariri and Leavey Center.
Work/Life Balance
If you’re like me, you’re probably beginning to settle in with teleworking, though clearly there are challenges that will remain. So many of you have the very difficult task of balancing your work demands with the need to teach children, and often in close quarters. As one of our colleagues, Sonia De Assis, so aptly wrote recently, while we recognize this challenge, being with children and building memories with them “is priceless and a blessing to be grateful for when this pandemic is costing thousands of lives and disrupting many more.” I hope you can find the same silver lining as Sonia.
Finally, I’d like to encourage you to join us for our second all-virtual GUMC Community Meeting on Tuesday, April 28 at 2 p.m. Be sure to watch your email for more information and the Zoom link for our next meeting in a couple of weeks. I look forward to meeting with you again then.
All the best,
Edward B. Healton, MD, MPH
Executive Vice President for Health Sciences
Executive Dean, Georgetown University School of Medicine