COM Outlook Summer/Fall 2020

NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY | 11 KPCOM Students Take Action in COVID-19 Aid It’s an observable fact. When disaster strikes, NSU students act. Students enrolled in NSU’s Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine (KP- COM) have a track record of generating aid in times of crisis—from national threats like 9/11 to natural disasters around the globe. To prepare for a response to COVID-19, students identified a nonprofit partner and banded together in a dual-campus enterprise. As the COVID-19 pandemic progressed, members of the first-year class board and Student Government Association (SGA) Executive Board at the Fort Lauderdale/Davie and Tampa Bay Regional campuses developed the Med Students Against COVID-19 initia- tive. Second-year student and SGA president- elect Charles Bisbee, as well as first-year student and class of 2023 president Aneil Tawakalzada, oversaw the effort. “As soon as quarantine really began, we were all very eager to help,” Bisbee said. “As students in the field of medicine, we have an understanding of the hard work and tenacity required of frontline health care providers.” The desire to carry on the college’s mission to help the medically underserved resulted in three objectives. By partnering with the Health First Coalition—an organization that provides health care advocacy for patients in Florida— a $10,000 fundraiser was initiated to purchase Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved personal protective equipment (PPE) for a few local hospitals. The second objective aimed to create care packages for the families of health care providers. The third objective was designed to assist COVID-19 patients and families with medical expenses. Calling a Friend The biggest challenge became how to carry out the group’s tasks without meeting in person. Student leaders from both cam- puses relied on digital solutions, as well as the inclusion of students from NSU’s Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Allopathic Medi- cine, to help carry out their goals. “Seven groups of student leaders worked to- gether remotely on this initiative,” Tawakalzada said. “We utilized group chats, daily phone calls, and Zoom meetings to effectively keep each other in the loop. Our student leaders worked very hard virtually to make sure all aspects of the initiative were successful.” The next step involved publicizing the fundraiser. Using social media, donation pages, and registries, the team solicited NSU clubs and organizations, turning the drive into a community effort that helped deliver swift results. “It was really great to see the large amount of involvement,” Bisbee said. “Our initiative also provided an opportunity for clubs and organizations to dedicate allocated funds that weren’t able to be used when we went into quarantine.” One of the more eye-catching campaigns involved using the popular TikTok platform, where the first-year class boards at both campuses took part by filming themselves individually catching and throwing items largely used during the pandemic, such as BY JOEY GARCIA, B.S.