To the Members of the New York Medical College Community,
As the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak continues to develop--both domestically and abroad--be assured that the leadership of the College takes your health, safety and well-being very seriously. While there are no known or suspected cases of the COVID-19 at New York Medical College (NYMC) at this time, NYMC officials are proactively working with local and state public health organizations to protect the health and well-being of our entire community.
Precautionary Steps
NYMC continues to monitor this evolving health threat--including maintaining ongoing contact with the Westchester County Department of Health and the New York State Department of Health. We encourage you to also monitor these sources for official information.
NYMC housekeeping is taking extra steps to clean and disinfect heavy use areas and surfaces to reduce infection spread. Additional hand sanitizers will also be placed around the campus. We all understand, of course, that national supplies of hand sanitizer have been depleted. There is, however, no shortage of the fundamental tools of hand hygiene: soap and hot water.
The Health Sciences Library and Doc's Café will be open. The company which operates our cafeteria will increase the frequency of cleaning tables in the cafeteria. In addition they will be modifying their hours to increase the frequency of sanitizing the kitchen. In regards to catering for campus events, all sandwiches will be wrapped, individual bags of chips and pretzels will be provided. Starbucks Café and the kiosk will continue to offer grab-and-go options.
Academic Programs
School of Medicine
Year One and Two of the M.D. Program:
Instruction for year one and two courses will be a moved to a virtual platform as a precautionary measure for the coming week. This includes all small and large group sessions. Clinical skills assessments (CSA) will be delivered as scheduled and in-person, with every precaution being put into place to screen students, staff, and standardized patients for illness prior to each session.
You will receive more details regarding modifications to your existing academic program. They will be sent by this evening, including information about how to access these materials.
Year Three and Four of the M.D. Program:
Student clerkships will continue as scheduled. Students should not participate in direct patient care of patients confirmed to have or patients under investigation for COVID-19. This is both for your safety and for resource management within our healthcare system. Of note, several of our hospitals have already made this decision regarding house staff and non-essential staff, in addition to students.
Students should still be involved in the academic discussion and management of these patients but should not engage in direct patient interactions (e.g. going in the room on rounds, examining the patient, etc.).
In addition, at this time scheduled didactic and standardized patient sessions at the clinical skills center will be delivered as scheduled and in-person.
School of Health Sciences and Practice
Classes will continue to meet as scheduled and in-person.
Faculty and staff are making arrangements to convert as much didactic material as possible into online formats for future use, in case the evolving outbreak requires temporary suspension of face-to-face classes. In addition, some clinical sites have closed to avoid risk of exposure to confirmed cases of COVID-19 Other sites may close as well, depending on the extent of the outbreak in this region. Accordingly, contingency planning is in progress to address possible shortages in clinical hours for our DPT and SLP students, as well as substitute culminating experiences for public health students.
Graduate School of Basic Medical Science
Online instruction will be offered when possible, which will be re-evaluated on a weekly basis. Students and faculty should await email instructions from course directors regarding specific classes. All laboratory research will proceed in-house. Clinical laboratory sciences practicums will continue as planned and in-person.
International Exchange Programs
We have suspended all international exchange programs until further notice.
Clinical Affiliate Sites
For faculty and students working at a clinical affiliate site, in addition to following NYMC/Touro College and University System (TCUS) policies, you will adhere to your local clinical institution's guidelines regarding patient care.
Campus Events
As a precautionary step to help prevent the virus from spreading to the NYMC community, we are placing a temporary hold/cancellation on extracurricular student gatherings and planned student club events planned for March (including but not limited to the Graduate Student Research Forum, NYMed Talks, the Associated Residency/Graduate Medical Education (GME) Fair, student interest group activities, AMWA Dinner and scheduled town hall meetings). Similar rescheduling is taking place for faculty and staff gatherings . To that point, events will be removed from the student activity calendar as well as on the room reservation scheduler. Any table and chair rentals will also be cancelled. If you ordered food for your event, please cancel the food order now. Please contact Tony Sozzo with any student event questions.
Travel
Because international travel carries unforeseeable risks, NYMC/TCUS sponsored international travel is being curtailed and other College related travel will require pre-approval.
Based on the guidelines issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a policy on College sponsored travel has been instituted, which outlines restrictions on travel imposed by the spread of the virus.
Please be aware that personal travel plans, at this time, may have an impact on your education, including your ability to participate in clinical care. For this reason, NYMC's Office of Student Affairs recommends that, if possible, you minimize personal travel for the next few weeks as the COVID-19 situation continues to develop.
If you have any concerns about family, travel, or other questions, please email them to [email protected]. Please also review the CDC website for the latest travel advisories when considering travel for yourself or your family.
For the latest information, read the CDC Travel Health Notices, the U.S. Department of State Travel Advisories and the WHO's suggested safety precautions. We encourage you to monitor these websites and share this information with your families. And above all else, we encourage you to practice the utmost vigilance to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Personal Safety Precautions
In the face of this emerging health threat, we must all practice extra precautions. Remember that your best defense to help prevent the spread of respiratory diseases like COVID-19 is frequent hand washing (with soap and hot water), covering your cough with a tissue or your inner elbow, avoiding others who may be sick, staying home when you are sick and cleaning and disinfecting surfaces regularly.
Seeking Medical Attention
Students on the NYMC campus who are in need medical assistance should call ahead so their healthcare provider can take steps to prevent others from being infected. Students should contact the Health Services Office at (914) 594-4234; and faculty and staff should contact the Family Health Center at (914) 828-0435 or their primary care doctor, for supportive care.
Practice Compassion
As we come together as a community to face this emerging health threat, please practice extra compassion.
With many community members feeling worried or anxious, it is critical, now more than ever, that we each strive to lead with compassion and empathy. NYMC's commitment to diversity and legacy as a bastion against bigotry is among our greatest strengths. We must continue to reject making assumptions based on someone's perceived symptoms or identity.
In the words of Edward C. Halperin, M.D., M.A., chancellor and chief executive officer, during his presentation at the NYMC and TCUS sponsored event, Coronavirus: What We Know, What We Don't Know, What You Need to Know, "There is so much misinformation out there. Infectious disease outbreaks bring out the best in people and the worst in people. Be calm. Be thoughtful. Rely on what is known."
Finally, we encourage you to share this information with your family and loved ones. We will be best served by getting through this trying time together--as a caring united community. |
