APS answers the call for COVID-19 assistance
As the number of COVID-19 cases increases, many have expressed their eagerness to help the frontliners: medical health workers, police and military peace enforcers, grocery personnel and others who help prevent the spread of the virus and ensure that essential services are still met.
At the Ateneo Professional Schools (APS), all hands are on deck. The 4 schools (Law, Business, Government and Medicine and Public Health) have come together to support and ensure that front liners can do their job safely amidst the pandemic. From spearheading fundraising efforts to help with the shortage of personal protective equipment to preparing meals for medical health workers and volunteers and engaging in COVID-19 related research, APS has stepped up to the challenge.
“As our country weathers this COVID-19 crisis, it is inspiring to witness students and faculty from the different schools in the APS do what they can to help despite the constraints of a community quarantine. We have always challenged the APS community to view their professions within the context of service to the country and this is indeed the time to heed the call to be professionals for others,” says Dr. John Paul Vergara, Vice President for the Ateneo Professional Schools.
Pulled out from their hospital duties, medical interns from the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health (ASMPH) made alternative face shields for front liners. The student councils of ASMPH, Ateneo Law School (ALS) and the Ateneo Graduate School of Business (AGSB) have also joined forces to start Ateneo Oplan Face Shield to solicit monetary and material donations to make alternative face shields. The councils have also been providing meals to medical health workers and volunteers.
ASMPH faculty Gina Delos Reyes, together with ASMPH alumni Dr. Charmaine Cabana and Dr. Elysse Salindo, spearheaded an online medical consultation platform , “ The Lung Center COVID-19 Ask Force.” Composed of doctors from different fields, the Ask Force offers online consultations to those who have queries about COVID-19.
Researchers from ASMPH have also collaborated with UP College of Public Health and EpiMetrics to publish a policy brief on how the government can address COVID-19 health care issues.
Aside from ASMPH, researchers from the Ateneo School of Government (ASoG) have delved into further studies on the government's response to the pandemic. ASoG has also collaborated with the Asian Institute of Management and Jesse M. Robredo Institute of Governance for a joint study on crisis management.
Various student organizations have also pitched in: ALS’s Kapwa, the Women of Aleitheia, Lex Athenia Victoria and the Fraternal Order of Utopia. Last March 28, AGSB organized an online concert to raise funds to purchase personal protective equipment for front liners.
