
 
        
         
		HIGHER ED TODAY 
  COVID memorial 
  
 BRONX TIMES REPORTER, M 4     ARCH 26-APR. 1, 2021 
 Jacobi holds  
 Jacobi staff hold a COVID-19 memorial   Courtesy of John Doyle 
 for our friends, our colleagues, our loved  
 ones.  We remember the fear and uncertainty, 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 BY BRONX TIMES 
 On March 19, staff at Jacobi Hospital  
 held a memorial for the one-year anniversary  
 of COVID-19. 
 The hospital held a moment of silence  
 at 1 p.m. 
 “Today marks the one-year anniversary  
 of the day NYC Health + Hospitals/ 
 Jacobi admitted its fi rst  COVID-19  positive  
 patient, and NYC Health + Hospitals/ 
 North Central Bronx soon followed,” said  
 Chris Mastromano, CEO, NYC Health +  
 Hospitals/Jacobi/North Central Bronx  
 and Cristina Contreras, executive director, 
  NYC Health + Hospitals /North Central  
 Bronx. “Within weeks, New York City  
 became the epicenter of the COVID-19  
 pandemic. When we think back on those  
 fi rst days and weeks at the start of the  
 pandemic, we remember the worry we felt  
 Bronx Times Reporter (USPS#730390) Copyright © 2021  
 by the Bronx CNG LLC  is published weekly by Bronx  
 CNG LLC, 3604 East Tremont Avenue, Bronx, NY 10465.  
 52 times a year. Business and Editorial Offices: 3604  
 East Tremont Avenue, Bronx, NY 10465. Accounting  
 and Circulation Offices: Bronx CNG LLC, 3604 East  
 Tremont Avenue, Bronx, NY 10465. Call 718-260-2500  
 to subscribe. Periodicals postage prices is paid at New  
 York, N.Y., and additional mailing offices One Metrotech  
 North, 10th floor Brooklyn, NY 11201 Postmaster: Send  
 address changes to Bronx Times Reporter, One Metrotech  
 North, 10th floor Brooklyn, NY 11201 
  especially for our front-line staff,  
 as we navigated the many unknowns that  
 crossed our paths. 
 However, what we  remember most  is  
 the heroic efforts of the teams across both  
 campuses, especially those who provided  
 direct patient care to these patients, rising  
 to meet each challenge head on, and the  
 incredible  teamwork  of  everyone  working  
 together to overcome them.  Even in  
 our darkest moments, we remember the  
 moments that got us through – a patient  
 who turned the corner after a long fi ght  
 and went home; a smile from a co-worker;  
 a shared laugh, a shared tear, a hug. We  
 consoled and supported each other and  
 have created a shared bond that will  
 never be broken.” 
 Spring, a time of renewal and hope, is officially  
 here. Despite the fatigue we feel and the pain  
 we  have  endured,  there  is  still  optimism  in  our  
 hearts as we collectively look to a not-so-distant  
 future return to some sense of normalcy. 
 It was in that spirit that I announced in January  
 that the City University of New York is planning  
 a safe, gradual progression to a new normal  
 for the Fall 2021 semester. But for that to become a  
 reality, we must steel our resolve and maintain the  
 discipline we have collectively shown so our City  
 and State can finally — and fully — emerge from  
 this year-long crisis. 
 Now more than ever, it’s critical to not let our  
 guard down and continue masking up, washing  
 our hands and maintaining physical distance.  
 And I vigorously encourage everyone to schedule  
 a COVID vaccination shot for yourselves and your  
 loved ones, as soon as each person is eligible. 
 That’s why CUNY is delighted to have two of  
 our campuses, Medgar Evers College in Crown  
 Heights, Brooklyn, and York College in Jamaica,  
 Queens, serve as New York State-Federal Emergency  
 Management  Agency  (FEMA)  mass  vaccination  
 sites. In the first three weeks since they  
 opened, over 100,000 vaccinations were administered  
 to eligible New Yorkers at these sites. At a  
 combined pace of 6,000 vaccines each day, CUNY’s  
 campuses  will  have  facilitated  the  delivery  of  
 about 200,000 shots by the end of this month. 
 These are significant milestones that fill me  
 and our university with immense pride as these  
 sites were created to address vaccine distribution  
 disparities in traditionally underserved communities  
 of  color  hit  hardest  by  the  pandemic.    We  
 continue to discuss possible plans to have several  
 other of our campuses also become vaccination  
 sites in the near future. 
 CUNY students are doing their part too, bringing  
 their wide-ranging expertise to advance New  
 York’s COVID-19 vaccination recovery effort. Volunteers  
 include  students  in  the  health  fields  and  
 those  with  academic  or  professional  experience  
 giving injections, and others interested in providing  
 data entry and other support services at vaccination  
 sites and to those visiting them to be vaccinated. 
 Some 2,500 CUNY Nursing students are lending  
 their expertise and knowledge to NY Staterun  
 facilities such as those at Medgar Evers and  
 York, and another 1,000 nursing students, under  
 the supervision of CUNY faculty, are volunteering  
 throughout the NYC Health + Hospitals system in  
 the five boroughs. 
 They  are  students  like Bianca Blake,  a York  
 College senior and aspiring critical care nurse  
 who has been working at her college’s vaccination  
 site once a week since the site opened on February  
 24. 
 “I wanted to get involved because I wanted to  
 give back  to  our  community,  especially  after  the  
 hard  year  that  we’ve  all  just  been  through,”  she  
 said. “It’s a chance to not only help our community  
 but all the people who have been impacted by the  
 COVID-19 pandemic.” 
 Bianca’s zeal for service is what makes our  
 students so special — and it’s one of the many ways  
 CUNY is assisting New York’s COVID recovery effort. 
 She follows a long line of CUNY students, faculty  
 and alumnae who felt and acted on that sense  
 of obligation. Sandra Lindsay, a clinical care nurse  
 who graduated from Borough of Manhattan Community  
 College and Lehman College, made history  
 in December when she became the first person in  
 the U.S. to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Lindsay,  
 who is Black, said she wanted to set an example, to  
 show African Americans and all Americans who  
 might have reservations that the shot is safe. 
 Lindsay is a role model and a leader and she’s  
 now helping our University spread the word of the  
 importance of getting vaccinated as part of a campaign  
 we’ve launched to encourage each member  
 of our CUNY community to get the shot. Only in so  
 doing will we get through this together. 
 This pandemic has left no life untouched and  
 exposed, and even exacerbated existing social, racial, 
  economic and educational disparities for all  
 to see. Together, we have lived through this horrible  
 and historic moment. And now, with the end  
 finally in sight, we owe it to those we have lost to  
 continue to persevere, stay vigilant and get vaccinated. 
 Our University’s participation in the important  
 effort to vaccinate New Yorkers makes me  
 proud, but it is only the latest proof that CUNY is  
 integral to New York City’s recovery and that our  
 campuses continue to serve as vital anchor institutions  
 for their surrounding communities.  I know  
 I speak for many more than myself when I say  
 how much I look forward to the happy and hopeful  
 times to come, when we resume the activities that  
 we love. We are getting there.