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A Student’s Reflection on Developing a COVID-19 Surge Contingency Plan

When fourth-year medicine student Cyril Harfouche signed up for Intensive Care Medicine and ICU Resources in Pandemics, he might have expected that this would be a memorable experience. And as one of 22 fourth-year College of Medicine students in Northeast Ohio Medical University President John T. Langell’s class, Harfouche found just that.

As an extension of the class, Dr. Langell and his students collaborated with partners including Kent State University, the Ohio National Guard, the associate medical director of Akron Children’s Hospital and a collective of hospitals from Northeast Central Ohio to develop a contingency plan for a surge in COVID-19 patients in Northeast Ohio. The plan is for a facility where recovering adult COVID-19 patients who are stable but not yet ready to be sent home can be monitored and provided medical care. Such a facility would free up bed space for those with the most acute need.

Read Cyril Harfouche’s reflection on developing the COVID-19 surge contingency plan.

I volunteered to lead our student group in the development of the Northeast Central Ohio (NECO) Surge Contingency Plan because I wanted to be involved in fighting this pandemic and serving our community. Leadership skills I have gained during my training and experience as a naval officer allowed me to feel comfortable stepping up for this role.

I was commissioned as an Ensign in the U.S. Navy Medical Corps during medical school through the Health Professions Scholarship Program, shortly after I became a United States citizen. I completed my training at Officer Training Command in Newport, Rhode Island. I spent time during the past year working as a member of the surgical teams at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Naval Medical Center San Diego and Naval Medical Center Portsmouth.

In June, I will be stationed at Naval Medical Center San Diego, where I will begin training as a surgeon for the United States Navy.

Developing the surge contingency plan was a big challenge to be tasked with, as many of my classmates and I have never been involved in developing such a plan – especially not during circumstances such as the current COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Langell offered us a lot of guidance, information and resources to successfully develop this plan, and he was exceptionally responsive to our questions and ideas.

We started the plan from a template Dr. Langell provided us, which included the various components that needed to be addressed. We used previously published resources about alternate care facilities and guidelines for healthcare administration during pandemics to develop our plan. However, given the unique circumstances surrounding this plan, there were a lot of problems that needed to be solved and questions we did not have the answer to.

I commend my classmates for the exceptional diligence and hard work they exhibited while completing this project. Working with and learning from Dr. Langell was an invaluable experience; I was highly impressed by his leadership skills, his vast intellect and the amount of knowledge and experience that he shared with us. I am very grateful for the valuable lessons I gained from Dr. Langell about medicine, the importance of collaboration in times of need and selfless dedication to patient care and our community.