Each day the UVM family is rising to meet the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic, here in Vermont and across the country. Alumni, students, faculty, and friends are doing their part—and often much more—to “flatten the curve” and help ensure a brighter tomorrow for their communities. Through their expertise, creativity, and service, they are demonstrating values that are at the heart of a UVM education. Stories like those highlighted here are being shared in our UVM Strong email newsletter. If you would like to receive future issues, please email impact@uvm.edu.
The more than 100 students who remained on campus through the spring semester received a special delivery of protective washable masks, each handsewn by President Garimella’s wife, Lakshmi. The masks came with a note, ending with, “we hope you will wear it in good health.” Photo by Josh Brown.
Estee Dilli ’15
Estee Dilli ’15 and a team of scientists at Pfizer are scrambling to develop a potential vaccine for COVID-19. The admittedly long process is “on a very expedited track—things are able to progress at a much faster rate than I’ve ever seen anything move along,” says Dilli. She is currently working with blood samples, plasma, and sera to establish the specific controls that will be used during clinical trials to measure the body’s immune response to COVID-19 or a future vaccine. “At this point, the industry is not looking to make a profit,” she says. “It’s not about developing a product; it’s about facing this global crisis.”
Todd Semonite MS’88
From New York City’s Javits Center to Chicago’s McCormick Place, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is leading efforts to convert public spaces into emergency field hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic.c MS’88 (below, at center) guides this vital work as Chief of Engineers and Commanding General of the USACE. Above all, speed is of the essence, Semonite told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “We don’t have time to do the perfect solution. We’ve got to determine what is mission essential. I tell my guys, ‘You don’t have all the time in the world to build this. You have three weeks, that’s what the curve of that city is, and get it done on time.’”
Stephen DePasquale ’98 &Mike Laramee ’98
Meal Train co-founders Stephen DePasquale and Mike Laramee, both members of the Class of 1998, have been leveraging their online platform to help feed frontline healthcare workers. Users have been able to organize the safe and efficient delivery of more than 1,100 meals (and counting) to essential workers across the nation. In support of this effort during the COVID-19 crisis, DePasquale and Laramee have offered free access to Meal Train Plus, the company’s solution for managing more complex Meal Trains like coordinating deliveries to multiple departments within a hospital. Laramee, Meal Train’s president, says that people are also returning to the platform to organize deliveries to the homes of those directly affected by the virus.
UVM Pandemic Response Fund
The COVID-19 pandemic brought great challenges for UVM, especially for students and faculty forced to transition rapidly to remote learning. Recognizing this, many alumni stepped forward to help with a gift to the University’s new Pandemic Response Fund. To learn more or give online, visit https://go.uvm.edu/youcanhelp.
Megan O’Brien ’01 MSN’08 DNP’17
“We must remember how our actions have a ripple effect into the lives of others,” says Megan O’Brien ’01 MSN’08 DNP’17, a nurse practitioner at Gifford Medical Center in Randolph, Vermont. “We are all in this.”
Megan is board certified in family practice and acute care adult gerontology, so she is providing complex care at the bedside, managing teams of allied health professionals, and using her critical care nursing skills to support nursing staff. At the same time, she has crucial roles as a wife (to a first responder), mother, and daughter. She believes that each person has a part to play in the pandemic, and for her part she is focused on providing the “best damn care” she can.
Johanna McKenzie ’55
Landscape artist Johanna McKenzie ’55 has been painting exclusively indoors since the coronavirus began to spread in the U.S. She is filling her days of self-isolation with an activity she hopes will “provide good moments for all the brave healthcare workers and first responders.” From Mollynook, her art studio in Little Compton, Rhode Island, McKenzie is adorning quahog shells from a nearby beach with small nature vignettes, from floral designs to butterflies and bees to furry and feathered creatures. She has delighted staff at local hospitals with deliveries of her mini masterpieces, all inscribed with a simple message: “Be safe.”
Take a peek inside the Mollynook Studio and meet Johanna!
Colin Jaskiewicz ’10 & Isaac Howe ’08
In the past few months, several alumni-owned businesses have adapted their manufacturing operations to produce critical health supplies. Orucase, a San Diego-based producer of fabric cases for air transport of bicycles and other accessories, is one such company. In March, founders Colin Jaskiewicz ’10 (right) and Isaac Howe ’08 completely retooled their production lines to supply protective face masks. “With our vast experience in producing sewn products, we asked ourselves what we could do to help out in these trying times,” says Howe. “We are ready to roll out both consumer-focused face masks as well as medical-grade masks to help out frontline medical workers both in the USA and Mexico.”