SUNY Cortland student on front line of COVID-19 response

04/01/2020 

Melissa Moran came to SUNY Cortland with dreams of someday becoming a physician assistant, helping those in need of medical care.

The senior biology major misses sitting in class for in-person lectures. But she’s still getting a once-in-a-lifetime educational experience.

Moran is working 12-hour days on the front lines of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic as a medical assistant at Walk-In Medical Urgent Care in New City, N.Y.

Moran is from Garnerville, N.Y. in Rockland County, which has had nearly 3,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the fourth most of any New York county outside of New York City.

She had previously worked at this urgent care facility during school breaks. In mid-March, her manager called and asked if she could help fill in on some shifts as large numbers of patients were coming in with flu-like symptoms.

“I did end up agreeing to work and once we got the email saying we were moving to distance learning, I’ve been working a crazy amount of hours,” Moran said. “I worked 92 hours the past two weeks. I’ve been picking up so many shifts because so many of my coworkers are afraid to work, so we’re very short-staffed.”

She is taking every measure to stay safe while working shifts at the urgent care, wearing an N95 respirator mask and other personal protective equipment. Patients are not physically entering the facility. Urgent care staffers are doing consultations by phone and curbside at the patients’ vehicles.

One of Moran’s main tasks has been testing patients for the seasonal flu and strep throat, maladies with similar symptoms to COVID-19. Once those have been ruled out, an urgent care provider may administer a COVID-19 test.

“Mostly all of our visits have been COVID-19 consults,” Moran said. “We have very, very few patients coming in complaining about other symptoms. No one wants to go to urgent care nowadays and be exposed to something.”

The Rockland County community has been extremely appreciative of the efforts of the staff at Walk-In Medical Urgent Care, she said. People have donated vital equipment, including N95 respirators, as well as meals.

“It’s so nice for people to acknowledge healthcare workers who are putting their lives on the line,” Moran said.

Moran has been working 12-hour shifts, often on consecutive days, all while trying to keep up with her coursework online. It’s been a challenge, but her rigorous schedule at SUNY Cortland has prepared her for trying to juggle multiple assignments.

During her junior year, Moran completed internships in the maternity ward at Cortland Regional Medical Center (now known as Guthrie Cortland Medical Center) and at an OB-GYN office in Cortland. She also served as a teaching assistant for anatomy and physiology courses and tutored other students in psychology.

Since distance learning began, she’s also been in constant contact with friends and classmates through FaceTime and video chats to talk about schoolwork and raise each other’s spirits.

It’s been an emotional few weeks for a student who was looking forward to celebrating her academic successes with family and friends at May’s Commencement, which has been postponed to a later date.

“As soon as the first email came out from Governor Cuomo saying that we’re going to do distance learning, I broke into tears because I was in pathology,” Moran said. “The thought of not being able to come back and sit in an in-person lecture again as an undergrad was heartbreaking. The graduation ceremony, I hope we still have that at some point.”

Right now, Moran is busier than ever with her classes and shifts at urgent care. She implores people to stay home as much as possible and wash their hands thoroughly.

Despite the circumstances, Moran is glad to have an opportunity to share her skills and her passion in working to help patients get the treatment they need.

“It has definitely reaffirmed and solidified my choice of wanting to go into the health field,” she said. “I love what I do. Each morning I wake up eager to get to the clinic and start helping and giving back to the community.”