UMMS students Quintin Solano (left) and Alex Reardon help inventory donated PPE at the U-M North Campus Research Complex (Photo: Global Reach)
Gloves, masks, and face shields. Gowns and shoe covers. Household cleaners and hand sanitizers. As the community answered Michigan Medicine’s call for donated personal protective equipment (PPE) in the face of a COVID-19 patient surge, a new challenge emerged.
Who was going to inventory and organize it all?
Out of their clinical rotations and physical classrooms, U-M medical students have been supporting the health system’s COVID-19 response in any way they can. A student-driven M-Response Corps has orchestrated group efforts, doing everything from triaging calls coming into the Michigan Medicine COVID hotline to providing childcare services to some of the front-line healthcare workers managing the growing numbers of COVID-19 patients in the hospital. Led by a group of student co-directors, under the direction of Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology Deborah R. Berman, M.D., the M-Response Corps is working to connect the student volunteers to areas in the hospital that need help addressing the anticipated surge of COVID-19 patients.
“I’m very proud of our medical students who are rising to help us meet this unprecedented challenge,” Berman said. “I want my colleagues across the organization to reach out to me if they have a project they believe our student-led M-Response Corps can assist with.”
