At the beginning of 2022 when the Mount Sinai Health System was experiencing a surge in COVID-19 patients, which included many members of its own staff, 60 students at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai stepped up to lighten the load of non-medical staff as part of a Student WorkForce.
It was the fourth time since the outbreak of COVID-19 that the Student WorkForce at Icahn Mount Sinai sprang into action to help alleviate staffing shortages. In the latest effort, they were part of a team of more than 200 medical, master’s, and PhD students who took on vital roles while many employees were out sick—staffing the waiting rooms and employee call center, coordinating employee testing, and even delivering food to patients.
The Student WorkForce was created in March 2020 as New York City hospitals became the national epicenter of the newly declared pandemic. Since then, tasks have been reshaped to meet new needs, and unlike in previous waves, the students received an hourly wage for their work.
“I was grateful for the opportunity to help,” says Yesha Dave, a second-year graduate student doing research in neuroscience. “I could somewhat understand the burden on health care systems after seeing it through the experiences of my sister and parents, who are all physicians.”
Ms. Dave worked in the Employee Health Services office at The Mount Sinai Hospital instructing staff on how to collect saliva samples for their own PCR tests and registering them for tests. She worked one or two shifts per week from early January through the end of February, seeing as many as 100 individuals per week. During a previous effort for the Student WorkForce in 2021, she had assisted elderly New Yorkers get their COVID vaccines, helping them navigate the lines and fill out the requisite forms. “I understood their occasional frustration and tried to make the experience as easy as possible for them,” she says.
Ms. Dave says she was attracted to Mount Sinai’s rich research opportunities, especially those related to COVID-19 and neuroscience when she enrolled in the graduate program. She expects to receive a Master of Science in Biomedical Science in June before starting medical school in July. “It’s awesome to be part of the Health System at such a historic time,” she says.
Oluwafunmilayo (Funmi) Oguns is pursuing her Master of Public Health (MPH) in global health, with a concentration in epidemiology and biostatistics. After graduation, her plan is to attend law school to focus on public health policy as it relates to social determinants of health. “When I received the email sent to medical school and graduate students asking for help to relieve staffing shortages brought on by skyrocketing COVID-19 cases after the holidays, I just knew I had to help,” Ms. Oguns says.
She and an MPH classmate, Spundan Davé, set up shop at Jane B. Aron Residence Hall and helped test hundreds of students who were returning to school following their holiday break, observing them self-swab, and offering whatever assistance was necessary to complete their testing. They spent 16 hours on this task the first week, while also taking classes. When Ms. Oguns herself tested positive for COVID-19 during the Omicron wave, she continued to work shifts after leaving isolation. In addition to this special project and her classes, Ms. Oguns is the editor of The Scoop, a Graduate School student newspaper.
Ms. Oguns lived nearly seven years in Nigeria, where she saw first-hand how lack of medical care impacts people’s lives. “All my grandparents in Nigeria passed away before the age of 65 due to limited access to health care and education,” she says. “That’s what motivated me to pursue a career in public health.”
Pamela del Valle is a fourth-year PhD student in neuroscience, where she is studying the sympathetic nervous system to shed light on the comorbidity of Parkinson’s disease and melanoma. She has been involved in a wide range of diverse organizations, both on campus and off, including the Student Council, where she focused on mental health and wellness for students; Students for Civic Engagement; and the Scientific Workers Collective, an organization dedicated to politically engaging the scientific community. She is also looking for ways to integrate her study of the brain with her passion for the arts.
So when the call went out for students to help deliver food trays to hospital patients during the Omicron surge, she says the assignment appealed to her and she found the experience moving. “I think it’s important for students to be exposed to all facets of the hospital, and I got to see a side of the hospital I don’t normally see,” she says. “It was eye opening to experience the camaraderie and the energy of the kitchen staff, to hear their music, and to see how lively it was while everyone was trying to work together to get their jobs done.”
Brian Soong, an MD/PhD student studying cancer immunology, had a different kind of inspirational experience. He served as an Emergency Department technician, filling in for the professionals who were among the hardest hit during the pandemic. Mr. Soong helped to check in patients, took their vitals, shadowed nurses conducting triage, and did whatever he was called upon to do.
“This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help our nation in crisis,” he says. “It was remarkable to hear the stories told by staff and patients and to understand how things have changed in the hospital since the first COVID-19 wave. I love doing research, but the patient interaction was entirely new to me, especially since our clinical experiences have been limited due to COVID-19. It was really fulfilling.”
Dina Doustmohammadi is pursuing her Master of Health Administration remotely from her home in southern California, so while she was eager to join the WorkForce, she was limited in how she could help. After a short stint clearing recovered COVID staff to return to work, she settled in as part of a two-person team scheduling asymptomatic testing at all Mount Sinai hospitals.
Working with a senior operations manager, she also coordinated the schedules of Student WorkForce participants and employees ensuring there was sufficient coverage where needed. “I liked the dynamic, fast-paced work environment that was always changing as testing demand and positivity rates ebbed and flowed and coverage needs constantly shifted,” Ms. Doustmohammadi says. She was also involved in verifying vaccine status for employees, ensuring all were compliant. All told, she logged close to 200 hours over six weeks.
Ms. Doustmohammadi is in a two-year program but is being fast tracked to complete her studies in one year so she can begin medical school this summer.
“I feel lucky that I was able to help,” she says. “This experience has taught me that the administrative staff have been the unsung heroes of the pandemic. Just as importantly, I really appreciate how helpful the entire Student WorkForce was and how they managed the demands put on the system. Had it not been for the students, it’s hard to see how the system would have been able to absorb the losses created by the staffing shortage. It was very inspiring to see everyone working together toward a common goal.”