Saint Mary's Newsroom / Campus Notes

Colleen Joyce ’10 and her husband Joe Haynes ’09 say they wonder regularly which one of them will contract COVID-19 first.

They know, deep down, the question is ultimately more of a “when” than an “if.”

Joyce, an RN2 who works at Rush University Medical Center in downtown Chicago, and Haynes, a fire fighter with the Chicago Fire Department, are on the front lines of the pandemic, and frequently come face-to-face with the highly infectious disease.

“Every time we get out of the fire truck, we never know what we’re about to walk into,” Haynes said.

“It’s very worrisome. I come home to her and she comes home to me, and we work in the fields most affected by it. It’s always in the forefront of our thoughts. But it’s the job we signed up for. We know that we’ve got a job to do, and we try to do it the best we can and stay optimistic and hope it ends as quickly as possible.”

“We’re both taking extra precautions,” Joyce added. “We wash our hands a thousand times a day. I always wear a mask. I don’t think there’s such a thing as too many precautions. Neither of us can go to work if either of us gets it. And we don’t want to stay home; we want to be out there.”

The couple, who married about a year ago, met more than 11 years ago as undergraduate students on Saint Mary’s Winona Campus. They share an obvious a affinity for Chicago, for their two dogs, for (the late and great) Father Andrew Fabian of the Philosophy Department, for their alma mater, and for helping others.

Joyce majored in biology, knowing from her days of being a nanny that she wanted to work in the medical field; Haynes majored in English, went into the military, and became a prosecutor for the city of Chicago before joining the fire department nearly a year ago.

“I knew in college that I wanted to go into public service,” he said. “I knew as a firefighter I would also be able to still practice law and would be able to help two-fold. I joined the re department just in time for this national crisis, so I’m able to put my money where my mouth is.”

In mid March the couple completed a whirlwind tour of Europe, returning just two days before President Donald Trump suspended international travel because of safety concerns. Their jobs changed instantly.

Joe Haynes ’09 is a member of the Chicago Fire Department.

Haynes sees patients on the front end, responding to 911 calls and serving as a trained emergency medical technician. He and others on the truck respond to everything from gunshot wounds to emergency transports. In spring, he began seeing a lot of people who had COVID-19 symptoms who called 911 because they were having difficulty breathing.

If the patients are taken to Rush, there’s a possibility they will end up in Joyce’s COVID-19 unit. Joyce also serves as a clinical instructor for the hospital nursing program, and she recently transitioned into an interim director position — shortly before COVID-19 arrived in Chicago. “I got thrown into this madness,” she said.

When patients arrive via ambulance, after being admitted, they wait in her 32-bed unit (one of two the hospital established, in addition to multiple ICU COVID units). If they are negative, they are sent to another unit. If they are positive, they stay, unless they require intensive care.

“We monitor them very closely because it is a respiratory condition,” Joyce said. “We have a really good team on my unit who really took this on and has been very resilient. I feel like we’re learning from each patient. I’m so proud of how my staff has responded. It makes me proud to be a nurse and to work with them.”

Though days are long and draining — and having to quarantine themselves from the family they love has been an added emotional strain — the two find ways to remain positive. For Joyce, it’s about watching patients recover (like one patient who went back and forth from her unit to the ICU twice but is now home quarantining and doing well). “Seeing so many people recover gives me hope that we’re taking the right steps and going in the right direction,” she said.

She also described the overwhelming support Chicagoland businesses have shown her and other healthcare workers — by providing food, gift cards, and other gestures — as amazing.

For Haynes, it’s about how everyone has put aside their differences to get through this crisis together. “It’s lending perspective,” he said. “In this political climate, people are putting their differences aside. We’re all in this together, and we’re trying to get through this together, and that’s a bright spot for me.”

And, they enjoy coming home to each other and their two dogs, Lucy and Layla. “They are so excited when I walk in the door they make me forget about what I see every day,” Joyce said.

“They’re the best therapy.” They also give thanks for the technological advancements that allow them to connect virtually with friends and family, including the supportive friends they made at Saint Mary’s.

“My years at Saint Mary’s with Colleen were the best years of my life so far,” Haynes said. “We’ve made lifelong friendships, we had inspirational teachers, and when that day comes, we’ll encourage our children to attend Saint Mary’s.”

Photo caption: Colleen Joyce ’10 at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

As an Army Reserve medic, Sgt. Chuck Thibault ’21 is trained for trauma situations in battle, things such as gunshots and explosions.

He never dreamed he’d be working 12-hour shifts battling the coronavirus in the epicenter of this pandemic. But when he describes his work, which can be tiring and challenging, the words he chooses instead are rewarding and meaningful.

The junior criminal justice major from Shoreview, Minn., joined the Army Reserve nearly three years ago out of a desire to help others and a love for his country.

This spring he joined the more than 900 service members who were mobilized to combat the pandemic. In April, he and others in the 807th MC (DS) COVID-19 Army Reserve medical response team arrived in Edison, N.J., to work at a convention center converted into a make-shift hospital.

Thibault worked the night shift, where he helped to treat COVID-19 positive patients who were transferred in from other area hospitals.

The facility, he explained, was established to provide overflow care, take some strain off local hospitals, and provide needed relief for area medical personnel. Sgt. Thibault said he and other medical staff watched their patient numbers increase quickly. He estimated he personally saw about 20-30 patients each day, many of whom only spoke Spanish.

“I’ve taken many years of Spanish, and luckily I paid attention in class,” he said.

“I was able to ask them if they had pain or if they would like anything. I could tell them I was going to take their temperature. That was all really helpful because I would have been scared if I were them.

Sgt. Chuck Thibault ’21

“First they got sick with this virus, and when they came to our facility, everyone was all dressed up in personal protective equipment (PPE) so they couldn’t really see our faces. We tried to be friendly with them and put them at ease and conversed with them to get them as comfortable as we could.”

Located just 45 minutes from downtown New York City, Sgt. Thibault said he knew he was working in the epicenter of the pandemic. As he’s young and healthy, he worried less for his own personal safety than for those he worked with.

At the start of his shift, he carefully suited up in his PPE. Should he need to use the restroom or get a drink, he had to carefully remove his PPE, sanitize, and wash, and then dress in new PPE before re-entering.

Patients transferred to his facility were typically on oxygen but were relatively stable. “We gave them medications and tried to wean them off of oxygen,” he said. “They didn’t need to be in the ICU, but they weren’t ready to go home yet either. Our goal was to get them stable and healthy and then discharge them.

“It was a good feeling to get people out of there. You knew you were making a difference. The best part was knowing you were there helping people in an area where they really needed it, so it was very rewarding.”

Sgt. Thibault said he’s grateful to Saint Mary’s for allowing him to take a leave of absence and still complete his studies. And he was grateful for being able to virtually talk to friends and family back home. “I’m not really one to get down easily,” he said. “I knew it would be worse if we weren’t there, so it was easier to put it all into perspective. Someone had to be here, and I’m glad it was me and the others I worked with.”

It was difficult, he admitted, to not know how long he would be stationed so far from home. “The unknown can be daunting, and the whole situation was and is unknown,” he said. “I knew there were people back home doing well, and I know that this will all be over eventually. There’s light at the end of the tunnel.”

Thibault ’21 is trained for trauma situations in battle, things such as gunshots and explosions.

“It was a good feeling to get people out of there. You knew you were making a difference. The best part was knowing you were there helping people in an area where they really needed it, so it was very rewarding.”

Sgt. Thibault said he’s grateful to Saint Mary’s for allowing him to take a leave of absence and still complete his studies. And he was grateful for being able to virtually talk to friends and family back home. “I’m not really one to get down easily,” he said. “I knew it would be worse if we weren’t there, so it was easier to put it all into perspective. Someone had to be here, and I’m glad it was me and the others I worked with.”

It was difficult, he admitted, to not know how long he would be stationed so far from home. “The unknown can be daunting, and the whole situation was and is unknown,” he said. “I knew there were people back home doing well, and I know that this will all be over eventually. There’s light at the end of the tunnel.”

Photo caption: Chuck Thibault ’21 at work in a make-shift hospital in New Jersey.  

Princeton Review has once again listed Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota in its “Best Midwestern” category within the “2021 Best Colleges: Region by Region” report.

Princeton Review evaluates 655 colleges they consider academically outstanding, as well as worth students’ consideration, in four regions of the country. These 655 colleges, 158 in the “Best Midwestern” category, constitute just 23% of the nation’s four-year colleges. In addition to academic excellence, Princeton Review weighs what students attending the schools reported about their campus experiences.

Jeremy Zacher M’19 doesn’t ever see or interact with patients at Mayo Clinic, yet his work is vital to the frontline heroes testing and treating COVID-19 patients.

As an education coordinator and instructor in Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Zacher and his team support departmental education and all of the educators for more than 60 laboratories at Mayo Clinic. His personal areas of focus are online training and leadership development.

The advance of COVID-19 has dramatically shifted his work plan priorities. “Though education is obviously still important, we have shifted into a support mode to help with technology issues, work with assignments for online training, and assisting staff with working more efficiently and effectively,” he said. “Each day is a little different with the challenges we tackle.”

One of those challenges has been training lab workers doing COVID-19 lab testing.

“Much of what I do deals with online training and education, so this has been all about supporting our staff and helping them adapt quickly,” he said.

“We have many laboratory staff members who are redeployed to help with the COVID-19 testing, so they need to be trained quickly so that they can contribute as soon as possible. My work as of late has included creating online training, videos, and quick reference guides for staff to use in their training.”

Though much of the Mayo Clinic laboratory staff still needs to be on site, many are now working from home for the first time, so Zacher and his team are there to train and answer questions.

“Many of those working from home have never had to deal with that sort of challenge before, so we are supporting them through the change,” Zacher said. “Part of that includes teaching them about the technologies, but also we try to support the well-being of the employees. We work with a variety of people, some of whom haven’t previously had to do meetings online. It’s about getting people more comfortable with using the technology, providing them with resources to work from home, and helping them feel good about what they’re doing on a daily basis.”

Zacher is finding multiple ways to directly apply what he learned in Saint Mary’s M.Ed. in Learning Design and Technology program. He graduated in 2019.

He admits getting his master’s degree was something he’d always wanted to do but had put off for quite some time, telling himself his workload and his family life would make it too difficult. But after working at Mayo Clinic for about 15 years, he decided the time was right and that a master’s degree would open up the door to more opportunities.

“I looked at a variety of programs, and the LDT program stood out because of how it fit with both my work and my own interests. Because education and technology have really been passions of mine, it seemed like a great fit. I was able to modify and adapt what I was learning directly to the work I was doing, which made

it seem less like another task to manage and more like a way of enhancing the things I was already doing. One top of that, the support I got throughout the process from my classmates and professors was outstanding.”

Zacher said the experience continues to benefit him in his career; for starters, after successfully balancing school, work, and family life, he feels confident in his ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines all at once.

“Much of what I do for the department is to help our educators and trainers become better at what they do, so it was great to be able to share what I learned with my colleagues at the same time that I was improving myself and developing into a more effective leader for our laboratories and for Mayo Clinic.”

Although Zacher said it’s both humbling and exciting to be a part of the COVID-19 fight, he doesn’t consider himself a hero. “We have so many great researchers, technologists, specialists, and lab assistants who are on the front lines, collecting samples, testing specimens, and searching for answers, and I see them as the real heroes of all of this because of how vitally important their work is to keeping everyone safe and healthy.

“Mayo Clinic’s primary value is that ‘the needs of the patient come first’,” he said. “For those of us in roles that don’t see patients, sometimes it’s hard to truly visualize what that means, but in today’s world, it’s very apparent to see the impact we are having on the lives of so many people. I am just happy to be able to do my part and contribute where I can.”

Ellen Schreder’s voice cracks emotionally when she speaks of her Haitian friends and what she describes as their “infectious hope and joy.”

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, she constantly fears for their safety.

“They’re being told to wash their hands, but 80 percent of them don’t have access to running water,” she said.

“They’re being told to socially distance but they can’t. Their food is purchased in open markets … where they are shoulder to shoulder with each other, and they live in close proximity to one another.”

And if they do get sick, she adds, there’s no access to medical care.

Schreder said she read there are an estimated 60 ventilators in all of Haiti (which has an estimated population of 11.5 million). In truth, she discovered there are maybe 20 functioning ventilators, and medical personnel don’t know how to properly use them.

“They’re dying in their homes and not being counted because nobody knows,” she said.

“We’ll never know.”

Schreder, who is a partner at a Minneapolis law firm, first fell in love with the people of Haiti when she visited the country with her daughter on a mission trip about 15 years ago. In 2014, she and colleague Dr. Leslee Jaeger established a way to support Haitians in supporting themselves through Days for Girls and Helping Haiti Work.

It began with teaching Haitians to construct reusable menstrual products but, in the wake of the pandemic, has switched to manufacturing cloth masks.

Schreder had discovered that without access or funding to purchase proper sanitary products, girls in Haiti and other Third World countries were often forced to miss school for a week every month. Ultimately, she said, many dropped out of school.

Schreder and Jaeger began helping Haitian women develop valuable sewing skills, as well as a business plan for constructing and marketing sustainable feminine hygiene solutions. From their newfound income, the Haitian workers could now support their families, and countless girls were given the supplies and confidence they needed to stay in school. Schreder and Jaeger lead the Days for Girls Enterprise Team in Haiti (the only one in existence in Haiti).

When Haitian nonprofits began seeing a large demand for cloth masks this spring, they switched priorities. Haitian workers had constructed upwards of 6,000 masks by April 21.

At $2 each, the seamstresses are taking home about 50 cents per mask, which is greatly helping their families.

The orders keep coming in, and like here in the U.S., many businesses are closed, and material is hard to come by.

Another outcome of the pandemic has been an extreme rise in the price of food. Schreder recently raised $3,600 from family and friends, which was used to purchase large quantities of food for Haitian families. Even with cash, because of the current food scarcity in Haiti, it was difficult to find what they needed.

Too often, Schreder said, Haitians are forgotten.

Sometimes, she explained, visitors from more affluent countries visit Haiti on a volunteer mission. They come bearing gifts and they stay a few days, maybe a week, and help with building projects or other chores.

But when they leave, they never return.

Schreder said back in 2014 she had visited Haiti for about a week to teach women how to sew. She had discovered that her team of local sewers were very skilled but that they had rushed to get through the first round of production and earn as much as they could. They assumed she — like so many before her — would never return. On the first of many return trips, Schreder was greeted by the surprised exclamation, “Miss Ellen; you came back!”

“No one is ever as happy to see me as my Haitian friends,” she said.

Schreder looks forward to her return visits, which are now three or four times a year. In September, she led a group that included other Saint Mary’s alumnae Mary (Hennessy) Pawlowski ’82 and Cindy (Chamberlain) Budd ’82. Schreder attended Saint Mary’s for two years, between 1980 and 1982, and she made lifelong friends during that time. She was excited to introduce her U.S. friends to her Haiti friends.

“I can tell people about this all day long every day and unless you go there and see it, and touch it, and smell it, and feel it … It gets me choked up just talking about it. I look at them and I see they have nothing and they are so happy,” she said.

“And then I come back here and look at all that we have, and people just don’t get it. It’s life altering. I have a lot to learn from them.”

Photo caption: Ellen Schreder with some of her Haitian seamstresses.