The Morning Cast: Recent Episodes

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Where to Begin

Karen stood in the back of her classroom in March and pondered what types of materials to take home in order to virtually teach. “Teachers in general have a very strong sense of place in their classrooms. Any teacher will tell you, you spend a lot of time and energy getting your classroom exactly how you want it before the kids arrive.” she continued, “everything has purpose. I stood there for probably twenty to twenty five minutes, kind of frozen. Trying to reflect. What do I need from here that I can bring to my home?”

As someone who taught with a “hands on” approach, choosing the right materials was rightfully challenging. “ It’s my job to provide these kids with learning opportunities and put something in front of them that they can tinker with and explore, and understand.” After shifting her lesson plans, finding temporary homes for the class pets, and adjusting to what would soon be the new normal, Karen began life as a virtual teacher.

Everyone’s a First Year Teacher

It’s been years since Karen had “First Year Teacher” nightmares. As the reality of the pandemic became more apparent, Karen found herself having these worries again. Luckily, her school provided emergency training on how to utilize tools and resources to effectively teach these young kids. “There are so many amazing tools out there and you want to experiment and learn about them. I’ve tried a whole bunch of different experiments with a-synchronous learning.”

She also utilized her time on screen for her students to not only continue learning, but to be together with each other and express any worries or concerns about the uncertainty the world was facing. “Nothing should be mandatory for anybody right now. We’re in a disaster. So, let the kids take what they want and leave what they just can’t handle. That speaks to me.” Going live with her students reminded Karen that everyone was continuously learning, including her, and that it was completely acceptable to take the time to digest this.

A Pandemic. Protests. Virtual Teaching.

Karen lives and teaches in Philadelphia, PA - a city that experienced protests over racial injustice and systemic racism. In June, Karen was teaching as unrest broke out in the streets below her. “We want to know everything that is happening with this movement. We want to be positive and cheer people on and represent the good fight, and try to be aware and alert at the same time.” she proceeded to explain how things shifted quickly. “That news helicopter is following the march, and then the sirens are going. You’ve got the helicopter. You’ve got the sirens, and then for several days, the city was literally burning. The smoke was coming.”

There was an uncertainty of safety that Karen was trying to manage, wondering whether or not her family and her had to leave the city. Still, Karen stayed dedicated to the students and continued to teach them, taking time to allow herself to breathe by holding up a “technical problems” sticky note.

Overall: A Dedicated Inspiration

Karen serves as an example of how to gracefully handle uncertainty; how to unlearn and relearn what was once so natural to us. Her dedication to the students she teaches extends beyond the virtual classroom, and is felt from both families and friends of these students.

To learn more about Karen’s experience, listen to her episode of The Morning Cast (Ep. 7), and reach out to your incredible teacher friends. Thank them for their tireless efforts.

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Stacey Grant sits down (virtually) with Director of Workforce and Professional Development at First Up, Caroline Campana. First Up is a non-profit organization that ensures all kids from birth through age 8 can receive a quality early childhood education.

Stacey and Caroline discuss topics surrounding virtual learning, what parents can do to help, and what's going to change once schools open.

What Life’s Going to Look Like When Schools Open Through First Up, where she has been working for nine years, Caroline provides teachers the opportunity to build career pathways to higher education. She said in the interview, “A qualified teacher can really provide a quality education to a young child.”

Caroline has been a tremendous advocate for the field. Through coaching and technical assistance, she is helping create a higher standard in early childhood education.

Changes in the Work Day Once students transitioned to at-home schooling, First Up was quick in adapting to the remote workplace in order to help both teachers and their students. An online platform was swiftly created. On their website, they provide information for parents on how to teach their children from home and how to support their teachers. As well as a 4-6 day online training in which they have trained over 18,000 teachers in Pennsylvania.

What Future Schooling Might Look Like When asked about the future of education and what teaching might look like when students start returning to school, Caroline expressed concern about young learning if a teacher wears a mask. Young children might not be able to fully understand language and emotion that they learn through facial expressions.

This is where First Up, the lead organization in supporting this field across the state, can play a pivotal role. In being innovative and “being two steps ahead,” Caroline and her staff can help students become successful and confident learners while adapting to a new normal in the classroom.

How Can People Help this Industry? Caroline asks people to give back. By advocating or sitting on the Board of Education, there are a lot of different roles you can play that can help make a difference. Caroline wants to ensure this field survives the pandemic by coaching, advocating, and providing support once teachers are back in the classroom. We hope you enjoy the full interview, which you can listen to or watch below. Or listen on Spotify or Apple Podcast.

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Since the pandemic, everyone has had to change the way they approach their jobs. Teachers are a perfect example of pivoting - especially physical education teachers. Jared is a PE teacher at an elementary school in Maine and he walks us through his challenges, pivots and every day wins since COVID-19. 

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COVID-19 Through the Eyes of an Urgent Care Pro

As a nurse who has worked for years, Deb seems undaunted to the recent world challenges with the Coronavirus. She works daily as an Urgent Care nurse and also in COVID-19 testing centers.

“What are you wearing? How have things changed?”

"Things have changed exponentially. In the testing centers, there is a lot of PPE except booties. Recently we have been quiet in Urgent Care. People are staying home and not coming in that often. When they do they go directly back to waiting rooms. Generally, she is seeing more at home incidents like hand lacerations from cutting or home improvement. In the testing centers, we triage patients in their cars via phone. People are scared. Part of our job is to calm them down."

“I’m not a hero. This is one of those things we just do as Healthcare professionals.”

"None of us think of ourselves as heroes. We are just doing our job. Everyone has their job to do. Everyone is a hero. We need to get back to normal. This is out there. It is not harming the number of people we were worried about. The healthy people need to get back to work."

People have been kind.

"Restaurants have been dropping off food. People have been dropping off their extra masks. Unfortunately, patients when alone in the exam rooms are stealing gloves because they are panicked and are stealing gloves so they have to be locked up. We try to reassure them and let them know that we are always there for them if they need us."

What Masks and Gloves Do and DON'T DO

"Just because you have gloves on doesn’t mean that your hands are invincible. When you touch things with your gloves and then another part of you with your gloves it contaminates you. The masks are good to wear because COVID is spread through droplets. Gloves are not being used correctly. I wish the government would do more education around gloves and proper usage."

We are getting a lot of negative COVID Tests

"And the ones that are positive are not severely symptomatic. The main symptoms to worry about are cough, fever, chills and fatigue, difficulty breathing, and shortness of breath. We are finding that people who do not have an underlying disease process are fairly asymptomatic. If you have COPD or Diabetes or underlying heart disease are in danger. Healthy people need to get out and get back to work. It’s allergy season so people have come in with those symptoms."

It seems like you are not nervous.

"No, I’m not. I’m sure a lot of people will disagree with me but we are just not seeing it in my Urgent Cares. People are COVID positive and survive. People are not surviving the Flu as much. And even if people have COVID they are not being taken down by COVID they are being compromised by their underlying disease process. People do not get the flu vaccine so I don’t think a COVID vaccine will be effective."

Don’t panic. Get Healthy.

"I know a nurse who went to the grocery store in her scrubs and got punched by another person in the store because he thought she was wearing dirty scrubs from the hospital. Most of the deaths are in our older population. This virus is not out of the ordinary. This virus is acting like a typical virus. There are a significant number of more deaths from the flu than COVID at this time. Get healthy, wash your hands, don’t touch your face, and bolster your immune system with great food and vitamins and you should be ok."

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The Very (Very) Front Line

An X-Ray technician is one of the first people to know whether or not a patient has tested positive for COVID-19. The Koi-Fly team learned about this from Paula, a veteran technician who comes face to face with the virus nearly every day in Central Jersey. Most days, her job takes her immediately to the emergency room.

Ever Changing Policies

Because this is a novel virus, scientists and healthcare workers are still learning how to properly treat and protect against it. Paula details the challenges they faced regarding proper PPE (personal protective equipment) when the outbreak began saying, “The CDC guidelines were different at that point [in the very beginning] as far as precautions… whether it was airborne or droplet. We started out with the surgical mask and then they realized things were becoming dire and more and more difficult, and more and more people were coming in positive.” She continued saying, “We’ve been fortunate that every week I’ve gone in, I’m given any kind of equipment I want, which is great, which not a lot of people can say.”

Bedside Service

The unit Paula works is usually in a separate area of the hospital. Patients would normally come to her to be x-rayed. Now, Paula goes to them.

“We walk around. It’s all portable. Nobody comes to our unit anymore because you don’t want to infect rooms that are needed for healthier people,” she said. With a long list of patients, Paula spends her days x-raying chests for those suspected of COVID-19 saying, “We’ve gotten so good at these X-rays. You take a picture of the lungs, and I’m not a doctor, but I’m like, oh boy, this is definitely a positive one.”

She shared with us an example of what an x-ray looks like from a positive COVID-19 patient, pointing out how their lungs look like there are “cotton balls” in them, describing how to spot the difference between a COVID-19 infected patient and pneumonia infected patient based off of that.

Getting the Job Done

“What makes all of us, as workers, nervous is how the rules change since this all started at the beginning of March,” she said. Paula’s main fears stem from the lack of clarity with protective equipment. The changes in which masks to wear are an example of this uncertainty as she explained, “In week one you said that surgical mask was all I needed. Something’s not right.”

In addition to proper PPE, Paula is required to take her temperature every day before going to work. Anything over 98.6 degrees is a red flag.

Still, Paula continues to bravely fight this disease on the very front line. She has a disinfecting routine at the end of every shift, careful not to infect her family or anyone she comes in contact with. When asked what keeps her going back to work, Paula answered, “For me, personally, it’s what I signed up for. I knew that going in. I guess it takes a certain person.” She continued by saying, “I just want to help. If I’m able and capable of helping someone, why not?”

UPDATE:

In the interview, Paula mentioned that the pediatric emergency room and the non-emergent section of the ER were converted to care for positive adult cases. This was because, at the time, the hospital had too many cases and ran out of room. As of today, the pediatric ER is back to only caring for children and the non-emergent ER is back to just that, assisting non-emergent patients. Great news!

Unfortunately, though, her hospital has seen a slight spike in children benign infected with COVID. Those cases go directly to PICU (pediatric intensive care unit). Overall, Paula feels like we’re heading in the right direction wich is down the curve.

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Veteran Nurse Shows Compassion During COVID-19

Nicole has been a nurse for seventeen years. She’s spent almost all of those years in the Emergency Department of an inner-city hospital. She’s also currently on the Decontamination Team, that assisted in the Ebola outbreak, and recognized the importance of preparing for the upcoming Covid-19 pandemic early on.

“There’s this oncoming storm you see, and you don’t know when it’s going to hit,” she says, “It might hit our shores or it might never hit our shores, it was the need to prepare just in case.”

Informing the Public

Nicole has a way of putting things into perspective. She’s a clear-minded thinker with a level head, which made this interview both educational and intriguing. From detailing the intricacies of N-95 masks to explaining how to properly wear gloves, Nicole highlighted the importance of informing the public.

“I think people are really scared. And I feel bad,” she said, “I think people need to know that to correctly wear gloves in the store, you’d have to wear 3 pairs.”

When discussing the N-95 masks, she revealed the universal fear from doctors and nurses saying, “I’ve used those masks throughout my entire career. But… the second you go in that patient’s room, you’re wondering, ‘Did I seal it right?’”

Still, Nicole continues to walk into those rooms every day.

Necessary Precautions

Like every other hospital in the world, special precautions have been put in place that has altered the typical shift for healthcare workers. Nicole has to take her temperature and send it with a list of answered questions via an app before entering the hospital. Rooms that normally have curtains have been replaced with doors to keep contamination limited. What was usually a five-minute huddle between the shift changes has turned into a twenty-minute huddle every day.

A Message to Others

“I would tell them not to lose faith,” she began before the conversation turned towards mental health. “Being home, trying to maintain your own anxiety. Think about your health. Get out there and walk in the sunshine. Get out there and take care of yourself. Don’t just sit home watching the news all day long. You’ve got to take care of your mental health and physical health now more than ever.”

From Fear to Action

Nicole spoke about her fears, “I fear what I might see in the next coming weeks. I fear the emotional toll it might take. And I fear bringing it home. That might be one of my biggest fears because I would never want to make my family sick.”

But, like so many other brave nurses, she fears more for others than she does for herself. Her compassion was tangible as she spoke about children not having food due to schools closing, and those who are out of work with a family to care for.

“I think we have to be a little more vigilant to worry about our neighbor next door. We all have a little bit to give.”

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COVID-19 Through the Eyes of a First-Year Nurse

As a first-year nurse in the intensive care unit, Molly never would’ve guessed she’d be in the middle of a worldwide pandemic. She cares for the most critically ill in her unit. But, with underlying conditions herself, it makes her job that much more dangerous.

Changes in a Typical Shift

When asked what her typical day at work looks like now, she stressed hyperawareness, “What am I touching? What’s around? Don’t touch your face. We are constantly cleaning.”

She changes her clothes and shoes at work. “Nothing from the hospital comes into the house,” she says, careful not to put her family at risk. “I try not to touch the food in the kitchen. I’m not making food as much.”

Social Distancing - Please Just Do It

Molly broke down the importance of social distancing when she said, “The idea of social distancing is to reduce the number of people you come in contact with. You could be asymptomatic and hanging out with your friends who are also ‘quarantined,’ so you think you’re not giving it to anybody. Meanwhile, you might be a carrier and spread it to those people, and then they’re going home to their families.”

She acknowledges the frustration that might come with social distancing but urges that if we stay home now, the curve could be flattened and there might be a summer to enjoy.

Community Support

Her gratitude towards her community’s support of essential workers is high. She recognized firefighters, police officers, and other first responders who put their lives on the line while also taking the time out of their shifts to celebrate nurses. She was also appreciative of how quickly restaurants adjusted to continue to stay in business while safely protecting their employees and customers, highlighting Ron's Bar and Grille in Exton, PA.

At the Very Heart of It

Molly’s been a nurse for less than a year. However, she’s steadfast in why she continues to care for those in the wake of Covid-19. “I love to help the people that we have. Especially right now, their families can’t be there, and it’s so crazy the trust that patients have with nurses. Knowing that I can be that support system for that patient at this time is really nice.”

The idea of being sick in a hospital without any family around is frightening to say the least. But, Molly details the “small,” nonmedical acts, that go so far to help patients feel more at ease. It’s these acts of love that make nurses so special. Here at Koi-Fly, we’re excited and humbled to highlight these extraordinary people. We hope you enjoy the full interview, which you can listen to here.