We know that many of you are interested in finding additional ways to support students in mandatory quarantine and isolation, and with that in mind, the Psychology Department was asked to pass along some information that may be helpful based on our experience over the past week.
We coordinated with the COVID-19 Response Team to pilot this outreach last week:
1) We reached out to all of our majors via email, to offer care packages to anyone in mandatory quarantine or isolation. We asked students who were interested to send back their names, building and room number on campus in order to be included. Because of health information rules, the University cannot provide lists of who is and isn’t in quarantine/isolation. Contacting them via email first allowed students to self-identify and provide their consent.
2) We put together care packages for students who responded, including things like bottled water, fresh fruit, microwaveable soups and sweet/savory snacks. We also asked students about any allergies or food sensitivities ahead of time.
3) Our kids helped by decorating all the boxes and added small drawings to each one.
4) Boxes were labeled with the student's name, building and room number. You can make an appointment with Campus Safety (315-268-6666) to drop off care boxes in their main office to distribute. Faculty did do some additional off-campus drop-offs as well, but this can be more time consuming and complicated because of safety protocols, obviously.
This helped to open another communication channel with our majors and gives an additional chance for dialogue to regularly check in on how they are doing and what other kind of support might be needed.
Thank you.
Best,