COHP COVID-19 Update: May 29, 2020

Faculty and Staff of the College of Health Professions:

I don’t have to tell you that COVID-19 has created a lot of disruptions and this has meant that we have faced a lot of challenges in our lives and for our college. Some of the challenges have been difficult to address, and others are now feeling normal (not comfortable but more routine). Some of the changes will become part of our normal lives for the foreseeable future whether we want change to or not.

The bad news is that COVID-19 has reduced our institutional and college budgets, and this will be difficult but not impossible to manage. Although this is still a fluid situation we anticipate significant financial cuts to our college and to UTHSC. However, we are in a better place than other Health Science Centers around the country. You may know that many institutions across the country have responded with furloughs, layoffs and salary reductions. We are thankful that at this point in time, the academic faculty in our college are not expected to be furloughed, programs are not expected to be discontinued nor are faculty expected to lose their jobs or have salary cuts. However, this does not mean we will be unaffected by COVID-19 or that we will not be affected further. There are significant budget shortfalls so we will not be able to fill vacant positions, and there will be a need for some reorganization in the college. Furthermore, we need stable and growing student enrollments to ensure that we are able to move forward as we have planned. Our College budget is fluid and we have to be prepared for even more tightening if the state reduces our institutional support further. The Department Chairs have already prepared for these budget cuts. Although these financial constraints will not be pleasant, we expect (hope) this will be a temporary downturn for the next year or at the most two years and the state will return its support to UTHSC. We are strong and will get through this together. 

Now that the bad news is out of the way, we are excited that June 1 is the official start to our Phase 1 of coming back to campus. This will not be done all at once because the COVID-19 as a threat has not gone away. Therefore there has been a lot of thought and planning before moving to the June 1 ramp up. I want to thank each of the Department Chairs for significant efforts working with faculty and leading each program through the restructuring that had to occur in the curriculum and creating a plan for resuming on campus activities for students in a limited way. You have all done a great job!

We have to remember that as we come back to campus, COVID-19 is still here and until a reliable antibody is available we will be living with it. Nevertheless, the country and our institution has decided that we will be able to manage COVID-19 and still be able to work so that means we are moving back to campus. We are in the health care field and that means there are risks to our students and faculty who are treating patients. We know that some students and some faculty may come into contact with COVID-19, but we will try to minimize the risk of this happening. A COVID-19 testing facility is being set up on the Memphis campus for testing if it is needed for students, staff, or faculty who show any symptoms or who come into contact with anyone with COVID-19. Students who need COVID-19 testing prior to beginning a clinical rotation can also be tested at the same facility.

Each department chair has submitted a reopening plan for each academic program in their department for bringing students staff and faculty back to campus. Each plan has been reviewed and approved by Dr. Aziz and I and by UTHSC. If you have not already done so, please obtain from your department chair a finalized copy of the plan that pertains to you and your academic program or programs in which you participate and read it carefully so that you are familiar with the details of the plan. There is also a laboratory opening plan that was generated from the UTHSC Office of Research and the Office of Compliance and Safety. All research laboratories have submitted their individual plans which have been approved by Dr. Carson in the Office of Research and Graduate Studies and also by their department chair and by the Office of Compliance and Safety. Each participant in the laboratory should also be familiar with the plans that pertain to their lab. The development of the plan for resuming patient based in-person research (including clinical trials) is being developed in the UTHSC Office of Research and will be reviewed by the Implementation Committee and approved by the Chancellor before direct contract with patients can resume. Of course, research data analysis, grant writing, writing manuscripts etc. and other non-patient contact has not stopped during the pandemic, so our research productivity may have been slowed but it has not been stalled. Finally, the clinics in the Department of ASP have developed a plan which has been approved to begin seeing patients with student involvement as of June 1. 

We expect that as we transition back to campus, that in phase 1 the Department Chairs will ensure that PPE training and self-checks have been done prior to coming on campus and that there is a maximum of 25% of faculty and staff on campus at any one time. If you have not been instructed by your Chair to be on campus, but wish to do so, please contact your Dept. Chair for approval so that your Chair can assure that the 25% capacity is not exceeded. As we come back to campus, we will not be meeting in groups except virtually. All institutional social distancing, and PPE policies must be adhered to fully. Although I am sure everyone has a mask, you will soon be receiving two UTHSC masks that were purchased by Dr. Brown for our College and they will be distributed to you from your departmental administrator. The Office of Compliance and Safety will be making random checks in hallways, offices, laboratories etc. to identify and report any infractions of the university policies, and violations will be taken very seriously. Please also check your email today (Friday May 29) with information pertaining to how you may
access buildings on the Memphis campus beginning Monday, June 1. The idea is that that every person entering can have their temperature checked and PPE verified.

Based on the approved academic program plans, small groups of students and faculty will be permitted to meet for labs and other instruction, but again social distancing and PPE guidelines apply. We recognize that this becomes more burdensome because some classes will need to be taught in multiple sections by the same faculty, but this is now the new norm. Teaching that can be done remotely should be done remotely.

If nothing else good comes from this Pandemic, it has shown us all that even if it is difficult, our college can adapt to changing environments and do so rapidly. We must uphold the highest academic standards for our students so they can obtain the highest quality training. In doing so, we must continue to change and adapt. Yet we are part of an academic Health Science Center and therefore we must also continue our scholarship and productivity while maintaining and expanding our clinical care to the communities we serve. COVID-19 may have interrupted our flow but it has not stopped us.

If you have not checked on our College’s web site link for our COVID-19 responses for a while, it would be a good time to review all of the great work that has been accomplished in such a challenging time: https://uthsc.edu/health-professions/covid-19/index.php. Congratulations to all of you for your continued work during this difficult time and for all of the work you will continue to do to improve and strengthen our college as we climb the national rankings to top 20, with or without COVID-19!

Be healthy and be safe!

Stephen E. Alway, PhD
Dean, College of Health Professions