’73
Business administration
Since graduating from URI, I’ve worked in Healthcare Administration. I graduated from the Medical University of South Carolina with a Doctorate in Health Administration ( DHA), preceded by an MA from Salve Regina University and an MPA from Clark University.
But it was at URI that my life and career journeys were firmly established, and I owe those undergrad years at URI for all I have had the privilege of being involved with since; including my current experiences in dealing with COVID. I am part of the so-called “essential healthcare” cohort who work directly with clients/ patients / students in caring for and—to the best of our ability—preventing the spread of the virus to vulnerable populations.
In my work I oversee the care of approximately 20,000 individuals with a variety of physical, emotional, neurological, and developmental considerations through a cohort of 4,600 professional staff including MDs, nurses, psychologists, therapists, and an army of direct support professional employees working at 200 locations throughout Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Many of our patients and clients are medically fragile with a variety of comorbid health concerns. The moment COVID was announced as a pandemic by the World Health Organization, my world was changed. How would we acquire the quantity of necessary PPE ( personal protective equipment) and supplies for thousands of employees? What new or enhanced protocols would be required to ensure safe working conditions? Were all of our clinical protocols up to date in order to respond to a national pandemic? How would we financially cover the millions of dollars in lost revenue and added expenses? And could we rely upon our workforce to put themselves and their families in harm’s way in caring for populations of people who already presented many health risks?
Since March 1, my life—and those of my Seven Hills Foundation colleagues—have changed markedly, with little expectation that life will return to what it was prior to March 1 anytime soon. COVID has, and will in the future, serve as a wake-up call to the greatest nations on the planet, all of whom have been brought to their knees by a virus so small as to be invisible. It hasn’t taken a war, or a shift in the Earth’s plate tectonics, or even the changing weather patterns to suddenly and with certainty change how we are acting as a humans.
It has taken one virus to bring our planet to its knees and we must learn the lessons this calamity offers, or future generations—our children and their children—will suffer the consequences. We must learn to be better stewards of Mother Earth and we must begin to set aside this archaic notion that nations, including the United States, are separate and distinct from the rest of humanity. We are all part of One World, and if there is anything good to take away from COVID it is perhaps that awareness. We still have time; let’s not waste it this moment.