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Op-Ed: CUNY’s Guardian Angels
BY FÉLIX V. MATOS RODRIGUEZ,
CUNY CHANCELLOR
Elvira Mata was born
with a physical disability
that causes swelling and
pain in the joints of her fi ngers.
The second-year student
at Hostos Community
College works as a senior
nurse attendant, and for
months cared for patients
with COVID-19 in a Bronx
hospital. Despite her condition,
she was able to lift and
bathe her patients.
“Before I go to work, I
have pain,” says Elvira, who
was diagnosed as a young
child with boutonnière deformity.
“But when I see
that the patients need me, I
can move more freely. I love
seeing their smiles when I
help them and they feel better.”
Elvira is also dealing
with tremendous personal
heartache after her father, a
taxi driver, died of COVID-19
in April. Her mother was
also infected and endured a
lengthy period of recovery.
I am proud to say that Elvira
exemplifi es a standard
of public service not uncommon
among students at the
City University of New York,
an intense drive to help New
Yorkers persevere despite
their own challenges and
personal losses. They are
nurses and medics, National
Guard members and good Samaritans
who helped shoulder
the pain of the pandemic
while they balanced demanding
course loads and caring
for their own families.
They are why New York’s
recovery goes hand in hand
with CUNY. With campuses
throughout the city
that was the pandemic’s onetime
global epicenter, the
nation’s largest urban public
university has the intellect
and applied expertise
to help chart a course
forward; the capacity to retrain
workers, and equip
them with the skills to
participate in a re-invented
job market; and the
wellspring of creative capital
to help our city and
state move forward in the
months and years ahead.
When it comes to our
students, Elvira is not
alone. Many others stepped
up and did what they could
to help New Yorkers weather
the crisis. Here are just a few
examples.
Anthony Almojera, a
Brooklyn College senior who
is also an Emergency Medical
Services lieutenant paramedic
in the FDNY and vice
president of the EMS offi cers’
union, has always leaned on
family and faith to get him
through diffi cult times. Almojera
took off the spring semester
to have surgery on a
torn biceps tendon, an injury
he sustained during a call.
When the pandemic surged
in March, he put off the surgery
to pitch in, working 16-
hour shifts nearly seven days
a week and fi elding some of
the more than 7,000 calls that
came in each day requesting
emergency medical service
in the city.
Shawna Townsend is pursuing
her Ph.D. in nursing at
The Graduate Center while
also serving as a clinical
nurse leader at the Hospital
for Special Surgery in Manhattan.
When the pandemic
deepened, she helped convert
a hospital that specializes in
orthopedic surgery to one
that could treat patients with
COVID-19. In the darkest
days when up to four of the
hospital’s fl oors were fi lled
with coronavirus patients,
she would fi nd inspiration
from the patients who recovered
and were showered with
applause from the staffers as
they left the facility.
Borough of Manhattan
Community College student
Fenellah Kargbo is a
member of the New York
Army National Guard. She
managed to keep up with her
coursework in four classes
even after she was activated
in March, midway through
the semester, to load personal
protective equipment
at a distribution center in
Albany. For encouragement
while separated from her
family, Kargbo, who plans to
apply to the BMCC nursing
program, relied on frequent
video chats with her husband
and 14-month-old son.
As their Chancellor, I
am humbled by the bravery
and sacrifi ce of Elvira, Anthony,
Shawna, and Fenellah,
all CUNY heroes. They
are exemplary ambassadors
of the University, embodying
the University’s mission
to help one another so we all
can move forward together.
They, and many more like
them, are the University’s
guardian angels, and on behalf
of the whole CUNY system,
I extend the gratitude
of the University community
and all New Yorkers.
Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, CUNY Chancellor Courtesy of CUNY
Fenellah Kargbo Courtesy of CUNY
BRONX TIMES R BTR EPORTER, JULY 3-9, 2020 13
LET US HEAR FROM YOU
Letters to the editor are welcome from all readers. They should be addressed
care of this newspaper to Laura Guerriero, Publisher, the Bronx Times Reporter,
3604 E. Tremont Ave., Bronx, NY 10465, or e-mail to bronxtimes@cnglocal.com.
All letters, including those submitted via e-mail, MUST be signed and with a
verifi able address and telephone number included.
Note that the address and telephone number will NOT be published and the
name will be published or withheld upon request.
No unsigned letters can be accepted for publication. The editor reserves the
right to edit all submissions.
ELVIRA MATA Courtesy of CUNY
Shawna Townsend Courtesy of CUNY
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