A Reflection on the Two Year Anniversary of COVID-19

To the amazing students and staff of CAHE,

As we recently passed the two-year mark since this pandemic officially began, it has led me to reflect on the awe inspired in me by the actions and commitment of every member of our CAHE family in these uncertain times.

To our dear students and graduates: Each of you chose to come to our institution because you were choosing to enter a field where you support others in the good times and the bad, when it’s status quo and when it is unprecedentedly hard. Each field our programs train for was impacted in unique and difficult ways: from the staggering need for emergency medical services, to technologists that had to identify COVID on chest scans, to radiation therapists that had to face the reality that cancer doesn’t stop, even when the rest of the world does. As the world grew more unpredictable, your patience, dedication, and tenacity over the last 2+ years has been truly heroic. For suffering through inconsistent state mandates regarding masks, goggles, COVID clinical kits, and surgical scrubs, for getting vaccines right away so you could get back to your clinical sites, for complying with all of New York State’s laws and adapting with them and us as each new requirement came out. For seeing the growing need for Allied Health professionals debilitating New York and stepping up to bear that responsibility. I am in awe of each and every one of you!

To our unfailing and persevering faculty and staff: While most of the world shut down when the pandemic hit, you all hit the ground running. In only three days, you managed to utilize our existing technology to convert to fully remote learning so that CAHE was able to be fully operational. You managed to redesign labs to maximize safety when students had to attend in-person. Amidst the world in chaos, you educated our students so well that they maintained their outcomes and objectives. I always knew the value and tenacity of the people who work here, but COVID has highlighted how truly unstoppable and dedicated you all are. It is an honor to work with each of you.

CAHE was built on the philosophy that “he who saved one life, it’s as if he saved an entire world” and with the knowledge that the students trained here go out and save more than one life. Jerry Rozenberg, CAHE’s President and CEO, founded the school’s Paramedic Program months prior to 9/11. Time and again, when our community needed help, CAHE students and staff stepped up and were deemed essential.

In the past two years, we have all been led to question everything, but despite not having answers, our students and staff kept going. Because that’s what we do, we keep going. So to each and every one of you, all I can say is: Thank you, “WOW,” and please never stop making a difference.