Students In Brief

Tulane reaches out to mothers in need

Public health students at Tulane University are working to make sure that pregnant and postpartum women are getting necessary support during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 Emergency Response to Pregnancy and Postpartum collaborates with existing community-based organizations, the state health department and the New Orleans Mayor’s Office for Youth and Families to target the most pressing needs of the city’s mothers and children.

“Many women aren’t able to get access to the supports and resources they need during pregnancy and postpartum — whether it be due to changing hospital protocol, lack of money or simply the lack of awareness about service ability,” said APHA member Tonyé Fohsta-Lynch, a student at Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

Fohsta-Lynch’s team was one of six awarded a grant through the Sprinting to the Front Lines initiative, a rapid funding mechanism for Tulane students to respond to the pandemic. Her team is working on a toolkit to bring resources and information together.

Other teams funded through the grant are working on issues such as food delivery, walk-up testing in underserved neighborhoods and assistance for seniors.

For more information, visit https://sph.tulane.edu.

Pittsburgh student fights misinformation

Having accurate, science-based information is critical during the COVID-19 pandemic, so a student at the University of Pittsburgh is working to make it available.

Emerson Boggs, a PhD student in the Department of Infectious Diseases, has been using her expertise to ensure that information on a popular COVID-19 news forum on Reddit does not endanger public health. The forum has over 2 million members.

Boggs and her fellow unpaid moderators serve as filters for the forum, flagging and removing posts with false or misleading information and reining in discussions when needed.

Boggs said that she is grateful for the opportunity to use her knowledge to not only protect public health, but also have opportunities to reassure people who may be fearful about the pandemic.

To access the forum, visit www.reddit.com/r/coronavirus.

Anne Abbott of the University of Iowa noticed that some people were not physically distancing outdoors on trails and in parks. She created posters and yard signs to get the message out.

Image courtesy Anne Abbott

Iowa educates on outdoor distancing

With stay-at-home orders enacted across the country because of COVID-19, taking a break outdoors was a simple way to improve mental and physical health. But the call to get outdoors led to crowds in parks and on trails, making physical distancing hard to maintain.

To help promote safe use of outdoor spaces in Iowa, Anne Abbott, a University of Iowa College of Public Health PhD student, started a campaign to remind people to practice physical distancing when using parks or trails.

“I noticed people were not following the CDC’s recommendations about six feet of social distancing,” Abbott said in a university news release.

In partnership with university’s Prevention Research Center, Abbott created printable posters and yard signs that offer easy-to-read tips and guidelines. Abbott’s poster for trail etiquette uses simple language to remind people to let others pass on the narrow trails and to stay six feet away from fellow hikers.

To download the free materials, visit bit.ly/COVIDOutdoorEtiquette.

Florida students join contact tracing team

In March, over 60 faculty and students at the University of Southern Florida’s College of Public Health joined the Florida Department of Health to work on contact tracing.

The students interviewed people diagnosed with COVID-19 to find out who they had come in contact with in recent days. They then collaborated with public health workers to have people tested. If a test was negative, the contacts were told to self-quarantine, and if positive, they were told to isolate themselves from others.

“Some calls are very emotional as you learn how it started with one family member and then another ends up being the sole caregiver for the household,” public health student Miriam Escobar said in a news release. “Although I cannot solve their issues, I am able to listen, be present during our conversation and offer support. It is nice to be that shoulder for someone.”

By mid-May, the Florida Health Department had hired 1,000 contact tracers across the state, many of whom were students from pubic health schools, according to a spokesperson.

For more information, visit health.usf.edu/publichealth.