Florida and Pennsylvania unemployment claims level off as economies slowly reopen

Florida and Pennsylvania unemployment claims level off as economies slowly reopen

By: Beatrice Silva 

3 min read June 2020 — As of June 5, most of Florida has taken the next step of reopening the economy that was devastated by COVID-19. Unemployment figures are starting to level off as businesses slowly start to open up again. On June 6, the U.S. Department of Labor saw its lowest figure for new unemployment claims since March 26. However, the sunshine state’s economy isn’t in the clear just yet. Florida has the fourth highest unemployment claims in the U.S. To make matters worse, some Floridans are still struggling to collect their unemployment benefits. 

 

 Since March 15, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) has paid out $1.5 billion in state claims and another $4.6 billion in federal unemployment benefits. Approved applicants should be getting $600 per week from federal benefits plus the state’s additional $275 weekly benefits. Unfortunately, issues resulting from an influx of people filing for benefits has caused the Florida DEO’s website to crash on multiple occasions. On April 15, Gov. Ron DeSantis placed Jonathan Satter, Florida Department of Management Services secretary, in charge of fixing the state’s unemployment benefits system. As a result, a new mobile-friendly website was born. People can now submit an application on the new website if they don’t currently have an open unemployment benefits claim on file. 

 

Different markets were hit particularly hard by the COVID related economic slowdown. The transportation and hospitality sectors are expected to take the longest to get back on their feet.

“There are a couple of key industries that will be greatly impacted the longer this goes, especially tourism and real estate. On the positive side, there is a significant number of secondary markets in Florida. Traveling overseas will likely not be as popular in the next couple of years, speaking well for these secondary markets. Challenges do drive opportunities and developers might take cues from the latter. Hospitality and tourism will continue to suffer and will likely require continuous stimuli the longer this continues,” said Blain Heckaman, CEO for Kaufman Rossin in an interview with Invest: Miami. 

 

Florida isn’t the only state feeling economic pressure as a result of COVID-19. Northeastern regions of the United States that were hit particularly hard by the virus, like Pennsylvania and New York, have also started reopening nonessential businesses in an effort to jumpstart the economy. Since March 15, the Unemployment Compensation department has paid over $16.4 billion in state and federal unemployment compensation benefits, according to Pennsylvania’s government website. The state is also preparing to activate an unemployment program that would extend benefits for up to 13 more weeks for eligible individuals. The last time Pennsylvania initiated the extended benefits program was during the fallout from the Great Recession in 2009.

 

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is taking a three-phase, regional approach to reopening the state. The system consists of red, yellow and green phases that are then applied to individual counties. Red is the most restrictive and green is the least. On June 5, Wolf allowed 34 counties to transition into the green phase. Although most restrictions are lifted during this final phase, people are encouraged to follow CDC guidelines. Businesses like gyms, hair salons and indoor recreation centers that remained closed in the yellow phase can start to reopen at 75 percent occupancy. There are still 33 Pennsylvania counties in the yellow phase, which serves the purpose of slowly powering up the economy while still trying to contain the spread of COVID-19. 

 

Gov. Wolf has publicly voiced his desire for Pennsylvania to reopen. However, he warns business owners not to open up too early. “By opening before the CDC evidence suggests you’re taking undue risks with the safety of your customers. That’s not only morally wrong, it’s also really bad business. Businesses that do follow the whims of local politicians and ignore the law and the welfare of their customers will probably find themselves uninsured because insurance does not cover things that happen to businesses breaking the law,” Wolf said during a press conference. 

 

To learn more visit…

 

https://kaufmanrossin.com/

 

https://www.baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2020/06/15/florida-unemployment-benefits-update

 

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article243450076.html?

 

https://www.pa.gov/guides/unemployment-benefits/

 

 

Spotlight On: Rodger Levenson, Chairman, President & CEO, WSFS Bank

Spotlight On: Rodger Levenson, Chairman, President & CEO, WSFS Bank

By: Max Crampton Thomas

2 min read June 2020 — For 188 years, WSFS has served its community by staying true to its values and managing for the long term.  Ultimately, the true measure of the value of any company is how it responds during periods of adversity. WSFS Bank moved to a work from home and drive-through model during the COVID 19 pandemic to continue supporting its customers. It also involved itself deeply in federal aid programs, such as the PPP for small businesses, while looking forward to a reactivating economy, according to CEO Rodger Levenson in an interview with Invest:.

What have the last 12 months been like for WSFS in the Philadelphia region?

In March of 2019, we closed the acquisition of Beneficial Bank, which was a huge milestone for us. It marked our significant entry into the Philadelphia border region. This was followed by a well-done, award-winning marketing campaign that introduced the WSFS brand to the community in a thought-provoking way, sharing our nickname, which was really consistent with the way that Philadelphians view banks and where it is very hard to differentiate yourself.

 

We married all that with Beneficial and what they brought to the community. We waited until six months after the close to do the systems and branding conversion because we thought it was important to allow ourselves some time to get customers, associates and the community acclimated to our name and become familiar with us. We thought that because of the size of this market, there was value in taking some time.

 

At the same time, and as part of the Beneficial combination, part of the strategic rationale was to start in a significant way to really deal with the trend in banking over the last few years, which is this shift away from physical delivery channels like branches and more into digital channels – a trend that has been accelerated by the current environment. We used cost savings to invest heavily in our technology overhaul. Not that we had an offering that was lagging behind our competitors, but we saw the need to move faster than we had in the past.

 

What has been the bank’s strategy to adapt to the situation stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic?

The company has done well. We are serving our customers, we are supporting each other, we are supporting the community. Like everybody else, we’ve had some challenges through this environment, but I would tell you that we are managing through this very well. We are really pleased at how the company pivoted and adjusted how we do things.

 

I think this is a by-product or a combination of some good planning resulting from our business continuity plans. We clearly had not planned for an extended scenario or a pandemic, but we had plans in place, we had groups that had done offsite, remote workdays and things like that to be prepared. When we made the decision on March 16, to work from home, it was certainly an adjustment, but we weren’t starting from scratch.

 

On the retail office side, it was not a hard decision to go to drive-thru only. We saw that it was clear that we were dealing with a major health situation and the safety and well-being of our customers and associates; that was our No. 1 priority. We made the call and we went from 90 branches to 72, which were those that had drive-thru capabilities. After a few weeks of that, seeing our customers’ increased use of different channels like mobile, and to keep our associates safe, we adjusted even that footprint. We put together a different model in which our associates who were working at those locations, instead of working a five-day week, started working on four-day on, four-day off teams.

 

How involved is the bank in federal aid initiatives such as the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)?

We were really pleased to be a participant in the PPP program from the Small Business Administration and serve our customers. When the dust settles from this program, we will have processed just about 5,000 loans and just a little bit under a billion dollars. 

 

At the end of the day, that’s almost a billion dollars that we put into the regional economy. If you look at the spreadsheets and the people who received those loans, many were $10,000 to $25,000. These were real people who were in need, who did not have the resources that other people had. Hopefully, a lot of it will be forgiven. We did that whole loan program with everybody working from home and more than 200 associates working seven days a week.

 

What role will the bank, and the sector in general, play in reactivating the economy?

I think the banking community is really doing everything possible to support our customers and get them through this really difficult stage to bridge them into what hopefully will be the opening up and recovery in the second half of the year.

 

As things move forward and we open up our ability to continue to support those customers with additional lending requests, among others, we are going to do everything we can to support them and the community. We moved $3 million into the WSFS Foundation, which supports nonprofits in the region, and we did that because so many of those nonprofits are struggling right now. I think that is the beauty of the community banking model.

 

To learn more about our interviewee, visit: 

https://www.wsfsbank.com/

Philadelphia steadily rising from COVID-19 challenges

Philadelphia steadily rising from COVID-19 challenges

By: Max Crampton Thomas

2 minute read: June 2020 — Virtually every sector of the economy has been pinched, crushed, or depleted by the initial impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Months into the “new normal,” industries and businesses have had to adapt operations to cope with COVID-19-related challenges. While many businesses remain embattled by the current economic cycle, innovation and opportunity are beginning to rise from the initial shocks of the novel coronavirus, while community leaders help others navigate through the CARES Act and the loan forgiveness process.

In the Delaware Valley, a region severely affected by the effect of COVID-19, leaders have methodically looked at ways to foster innovation in the face of the pandemic. For the real estate sector, the virus outbreak accelerated change in business practices and stress-tested the supply chain of businesses in the region. “We now feel threatened that the supply chain outside, and even inside, the United States is not dependable and will need to be more flexible,” Colliers International Philadelphia President and CEO Douglas Sayer told Invest: Philadelphia. “Accordingly, there will be an increase in manufacturing domestically, creating a greater demand for production and storage space as well as e-commerce distribution centers,” he said. The coronavirus even reversed years-long trends in the commercial and industrial real estate sector. “In the pre-2000 economy, a significant portion of the industrial inventory was repurposed for multifamily and retail. Now, we have reversed course by taking underperforming malls and strip centers and repurposing them for industrial, residential and medical uses.” 

The City of Brotherly Love has long been a thriving hub for the medical and life science industry. The virus could potentially create more demand for medical office and manufacturing space while creating opportunity for medical companies looking to settle in the region and for developers, Sayer said. “COVID-19 has also accelerated medical research. In certain areas, such as gene cell therapy, there has been a shortage of space, and only more recently has this space attracted developer interest,” he said. “In one instance, we were endeavoring to locate space for one of our clients locally and ended up sourcing the space in Raleigh. As a result of the shortage of R&D and process manufacturing space, we would anticipate more will continue to be developed.”

While some leaders pivot their focus to account for innovation and marketplace opportunities, others are helping businesses navigate through the CARES Act provisions and the coming loan forgiveness program. Accounting firm EisnerAmper was ahead of the curve by stress-testing its technology and remote work capabilities weeks before shelter-in-place measures took full effect, Partner In Charge Paul Dougherty told Invest: Philadelphia. “We immediately created a COVID-19 response team that quarterbacks the different elements of the issues presented by the crisis, including the tax and stimulus aspects. And we did significant outreach to our clients via webinars, blogs and articles, e-blasts, podcasts, and so forth. To some extent, we’ve become experts on these Small Business Administration (SBA) loans,” he said. In a time where banks are stressed and overwhelmed with the related CARES ACT provisions and the Paycheck Protection Program, EisnerAmper is using its technology dexterity to help banks and business owners calculate loan forgiveness figures. “The banks are under a tremendous amount of stress because a loan recipient must determine the amount of forgiveness within eight weeks after receiving the loan. The banks have given out many thousands of loans, and they don’t necessarily have the staff to process all of that work in a timely fashion,” Dougherty said. “Our firm has worked with a technology company on a product that can input data from the customer and calculate the amount of loan forgiveness, which we can then provide to the banks.” 

To learn more, visit: 

https://www2.colliers.com/en

https://www.eisneramper.com/

Spotlight On: John Lawrence, President, Mid-Atlantic Territory at Aetna, a CVS Health Company

Spotlight On: John Lawrence, President, Mid-Atlantic Territory at Aetna, a CVS Health Company

By: Max Crampton Thomas

2 min read June 2020 —  Founded in 1853, Aetna is one of the nation’s leading diversified healthcare benefits companies, serving an estimated 46.7 million people. President of the Mid-Atlantic Territory John Lawrence spoke with Invest: about the company’s role in the battle against COVID-19.

How is Aetna assisting individuals, employers and providers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic? 

As part of CVS Health, we have a presence in communities across the country and interact with one in three Americans every year. When facing a health crisis like COVID-19, we’re uniquely positioned to understand where the needs are and how to address them. To support our members, we’ve waived the cost-sharing for testing and in-patient treatment of COVID-19, offering no-cost telemedicine visits until June 4, waived charges for CVS Pharmacy home delivery of medications; and waived cost-sharing for all primary care visits for Aetna Medicare members. 

Similarly, for plan sponsors, we’ve introduced an Employee Communications Toolkit that they can use to communicate the support available to their employees; offered a Special Enrollment Period Opportunity for insured plans; and developed a cost modeling calculator to help self-funded customers estimate the cost impacts of COVID-19. For providers, we’ve taken numerous actions to help reduce the administrative burden. 

 

What role will Aetna play as the state looks to slowly reopen its economy? 

Dramatically increasing the frequency and efficiency of testing to help slow the spread of the virus is critical for responsibly reopening the economy when experts tell us it’s safe. We operate large-scale COVID-19 rapid test sites in five states, which were opened in a matter of weeks through partnerships with the Department of Health and Human Services and governors in Connecticut, Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan and Rhode Island. Most of the parking lot sites can accommodate up to 1,000 tests per day using the Abbot ID NOW COVID-19 test which provides immediate results. Since May, we’ve been offering self-swab tests at select CVS Pharmacy locations in parking lots or at drive-thru windows.

 

What accommodations to your network of primary care doctors and specialists did you have to make to handle the influx of patients due to the COVID-19 outbreak? 

 

For primary care doctors and specialists in our network the issue was twofold: staying in touch with their patients and doing so in a way that kept them and their patients safe. Telemedicine was the obvious answer, and we assisted our physicians in adopting or expanding their ability to offer telemedicine services. To further encourage the use of telemedicine, we waived co-payments for all virtual encounters. This included services for members in high-deductible plans, anticipating the guidance subsequently received from the Treasury Department. We also added additional payment codes and rates to reimburse our network doctors at the same rate for in-person and virtual visits.

 

Recognizing that some of our community of healthcare providers and clinicians are facing financial and administrative strain throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we took a series of additional actions to allow them to focus on delivering high-quality patient care. These actions include a commitment to prompt and accurate claim payments; helping hospitals prioritize COVID-19 patients; enabling greater capacity with healthcare providers; ensuring full provider reimbursements for waived member cost-sharing for COVID-19 testing and treatment; and providing behavioral health support. 

 

What are your initiatives to address urgent health and safety needs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in communities across Philadelphia? 

 

The less visible but escalating mental and emotional crisis is the “second curve” of the pandemic, and CVS Health is proactively addressing this urgent crisis through the launch of a mental well-being program. So many people are dealing with the physical effects and the mental trauma, stress, fear, anxiety and isolation as a result of the pandemic. On May 4, CVS Health launched a nationwide effort and committed $1 million in charitable support to help address those realities and we’re connecting people with no cost mental well-being resources and counseling services. In the first phase of the program, we’re particularly focused on healthcare workers, essential workers and seniors. 

 

When facing a health crisis like COVID-19, we’re always working to understand where the needs are and how to best address them. We are continuing to reinforce the importance of social distancing and proper hand-washing measures especially as local communities return to business as usual. Through all of our COVID-related efforts, our goal is to help slow the spread of the virus and save lives. 

 

To learn more about our interviewee, visit: 

 

https://www.aetna.com/

Pennsylvania ready for a partial reopening; Philly, New Jersey not there yet

Pennsylvania ready for a partial reopening; Philly, New Jersey not there yet

By: Felipe Rivas

2 min read May 2020 — Along the East Coast, states are phasing in the reopening of their respective economies after weeks of economic inactivity as a result of the coronavirus. In the Northeast, Pennsylvania is the latest state to begin the battle of balancing public health and economic recovery by partially opening 24 counties along the northwest and north-central regions of the state beginning Friday. Most notable during this process, Philadelphia County, a major economic driver for the state and its most populous county, will remain shut down. Across the Delaware Valley, New Jersey remains in a health battle as Gov. Phil Murphy extended his shelter in place order for another 30 days.

“Over the past two months, Pennsylvanians in every corner of our commonwealth have acted collectively to stop the spread of COVID-19,” Gov. Tom Wolf said in a press release. “We have seen our new case numbers stabilize statewide and while we still have areas where outbreaks are occurring, we also have many areas that have few or no new cases.” The 24 counties reopening on Friday are Bradford, Cameron, Centre, Clarion, Clearfield, Clinton, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Forest, Jefferson, Lawrence, Lycoming, McKean, Mercer, Montour, Northumberland, Potter, Snyder, Sullivan, Tioga, Union, Venango and Warren. These counties were deemed ready to move to a reopening because of low per-capita case counts, the ability to conduct contact tracing and testing, and appropriate population density to contain community spread, according to the governor’s office.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney says he’s “not going to sacrifice people’s lives” in reopening the city too soon during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to local news sources. Kenney said there is no timetable as to when the city will open. “You can’t set a timeline. The timeline is what the virus dictates. We certainly have targeted things we’d like to see happen, but unless the data indicates that it’s safe, then it’s not safe,” Kenney said, according to CBS 3 Philly. 

Gov. Wolf urged citizens to adhere to all social distancing and health guidelines. “Every human-to-human contact is a chance for the virus to spread, so more contacts mean a higher likelihood of an outbreak,” Wolf said. “If we see an outbreak occur in one of the communities that has been moved to yellow, we will need to take swift action, and revert to the red category until the new case count falls again. So, Pennsylvanians living in a county that has been moved to the yellow category should continue to strongly consider the impact of their actions.”

In New Jersey, Gov. Murphy erred on the side of caution, as the state continues to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. “I want to make it absolutely clear that this action does not mean that we are seeing anything in the data which would pause our path forward, and it should not be interpreted by anyone to mean we are going to be tightening any of the restrictions currently in place. These declarations, unless extended, expire after 30 days,” Murphy said. 

No formal timeline was given as to when the economy will reopen. In the meantime, Murphy urged residents to continue to observe all social distancing and health guidelines. “If this extension of the public health emergency signals one thing, it is this: we can’t give up one bit on the one thing that we know that is working in this fight, social distancing,” Murphy said. “Remember, in the absence of either a vaccine, or proven therapeutics for COVID-19 specifically, our only cure is social distancing, covering our faces, washing our hands with soap etc. And we know, by the way, that the effort of millions in this state is working. We have made enormous strides, folks, unlike any American state. Let’s keep it that way.”

 

To learn more, visit: https://www.governor.pa.gov/newsroom/gov-wolf-announces-reopening-of-24-counties-beginning-may-8/

https://www.nj.gov/governor/news/news/562020/approved/20200506c.shtml

Spotlight On: John Fry, President, Drexel University

Spotlight On: John Fry, President, Drexel University

By: Max Crampton-Thomas

2 min read April 2020 — As the COVID-19 pandemic took hold across the United States, educational institutions suddenly were faced with the need to move online. Drexel University President John Fry outlines his school’s experience, expectations for commencement ceremonies and how Drexel is helping medical professionals and the public to fight the outbreak.

How have you seen the faculty and student body handle the transition to all online classes and education? 

The hallmark of the spring quarter and semester at Drexel University has been the shift to online instruction for undergraduate, graduate and professional students, with an option to choose pass / no pass over traditional grading. Given mere weeks to prepare, our faculty and instructional technology team have done transformative work — enabling professors to conduct more than 3,200 course sessions that, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, would have been taught face-to-face in a classroom or lab setting. We saw a remarkably smooth virtual classroom experience for thousands new to this form of instruction, with positive feedback from students and faculty; and more than 100 laptops loaned out by the Drexel information technology department to students, faculty and professional staff to support their studies, teaching, research and administration while away from the campuses. In addition, our faculty have offered help and best practices to their colleagues while working on their own courses.

What efforts and initiatives are coming from Drexel University in regard to aiding medical professionals and the public in the fight against COVID-19? 

Drexel’s Rapid Response Research and Development Fund was created to support urgent action, launching more than a dozen projects focused on health-related research and development. The work supported by this fund runs the gamut, from producing new medical masks and face shields, to creating a new app to track infections, to vaccine-related research and chronicling the mental health impacts of the pandemic. In addition, we have offered rooms in two of our residence halls for doctors, nurses and other health-care personnel working in the Philadelphia area who wish to remain close to their hospitals.

 

How will the university handle graduation this year for those students who are slated to graduate at the end of the spring semester? 

We certainly are not going to let the pandemic prevent us from celebrating achievement. A university-wide commencement, along with one for the Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law, will likely be held in the fall. Our College of Medicine isn’t waiting: Its virtual graduation ceremony will take place Friday, May 29, with planning help from student representatives from the MD program and the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Professional Studies. Our College of Medicine Commencement speaker and honorary degree recipient will be Katherine A. High, MD, co-founder, president and chief scientific officer of Spark Therapeutics.

What is your message for the university’s student population and faculty who are sheltering in place and waiting for a return to normalcy?

The devastating and sweeping impact of the coronavirus pandemic has left no one untouched. At the same time, I am confident that the Drexel community is navigating the challenges and opportunities presented by the pandemic with increasing success. In that spirit, I want to encourage our students and faculty to focus as much as possible on all that is positive about our response to this extraordinary period in our history.  

To learn more about our interviewee, visit: 

https://drexel.edu/

South Jersey and Philadelphia transition into online learning

South Jersey and Philadelphia transition into online learning

By: Max Crampton-Thomas

2 min read April 2020 —Jefferson Health is a multistate, nonprofit health system, including teaching hospitals, centered in Philadelphia. CEO Dr. Stephen Klasko details how earlier actions helped its hospitals get ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of preparation. Klasko also outlines the actions he would like to see from the state and federal governments to deal with the fallout from the pandemic.

What accommodations have you made to handle the influx of patients due to the COVID-19 outbreak? 

No one was totally ready for this pandemic, but Jefferson Health – all 14 hospitals – had a head start in preparing because of two initiatives. More than 10 years ago, Jefferson infectious disease doctor Edward Jasper started leading pandemic drills, and he stockpiled a supply of PPEs (personal protective equipment). In fact, we even sent PPEs to New York City in the early days of the crisis. Second, in 2014, we invested heavily in telehealth, launching JeffConnect, which immediately connects patients by video-call to an emergency department physician. As a result, we didn’t have to rebuild our system when calls went from 50 a day to more than 3,000 a day. Telehealth handled the first wave of the crisis, allowing us to support COVID-19 patients at home, as well as help thousands of people who were sick but not with COVID-19.

How are you working to ensure that patients and healthcare professionals alike are maintaining a safe environment?

Jefferson Health moved very quickly to a “universal masking” policy, requiring all staff to wear masks at work, even if their patients were COVID-negative. We were one of the first hospital systems to adopt universal masking, exactly to ensure we protect our own staff. We were in close contact with our colleagues in Italy, who told us that proper protection for staff dramatically cuts transmission within a hospital. 

Because we were prepared, we are able to allow a loved one to attend our patients during end of life situations, even for COVID-positive patients. We even allow a loved one to attend labor and delivery for a birth. This requires a full procedure of having a nurse escort to attend the loved one. We did this because of the long-term psychological trauma of unresolved grief when families are unable to say goodbye in person. 

How can the community best assist the local healthcare providers in this time of need?

The first answer is the critical one: Do not spread the illness. Our frontline staff are working horrendous hours attempting to save the lives of vulnerable patients. They are isolating themselves from their own children and families in order not to spread the virus. Do not increase their already heavy workload by getting sick yourself. 

But there are also vulnerable populations who need our help. The virus is disproportionately hitting places of congregate living – that includes retirement homes and communities. It is disproportionately hitting people who are poor. And the consequences of staying home are hitting people with medical needs all across society, from uninsured women who cannot get prenatal care, to older people on dialysis. In each case, there is specific advice, which may just be to give money to help not-for-profits that are providing assistance to the poor. 

What is your message to the local community that is sheltering in place and waiting for a return to normalcy?

Many of us are concerned that people with urgent medical issues are delaying treatment plans, not collecting medications, not seeking help. Please tell your family and friends: Do not delay getting help for cardiac and stroke issues. Do not delay taking medications. Stay on your cancer treatment regimen, and if you have the opportunity to join an advanced protocol or clinical trial, you should do that. Very important: Use telehealth to get mental health support if you need it. It may take more work today than it did last year, but please get the help you need. 

Do you feel you are receiving enough state and federal support and what more is needed? 

I believe Congress should immediately convene a COVID Commission along the lines of the 9/11 Commission – it is that serious. We need immediate changes to policy to enhance innovation to fight the immediate threat, but we also need to review the financial implications of this fight for hospitals, and we need to figure out how to ensure the next pandemic doesn’t create a health and economic crisis of this magnitude. On my list of things we need: Immediate access to the internet for all citizens, not just those who can afford a data plan. We need the federal government to lead preparation for surge capacity for intensive care, responding to any crisis. We need to prepare to offer health insurance after massive layoffs. And we need to evaluate the ethics of how we pay for healthcare to ensure equity for disadvantaged communities. 

To learn more about our interviewee, visit: 

https://www.jeffersonhealth.org/index.html

https://www.jefferson.edu/

South Jersey and Philadelphia transition into online learning

South Jersey and Philadelphia transition into online learning

By: Felipe Rivas

2 min read April 2020 — As the coronavirus reduced daily activity to only essential services, educational institutions were forced to transition at a moment’s notice into a virtual setting as shelter-in-place measures and social distancing became commonplace. Entire curriculums, testing, labs, and even physical education in some cases, transitioned into an online classroom setting as teachers and students of all grade levels resumed their education under the COVID-19 pandemic. 

These risk-management decisions stressed and challenged the infrastructure of universities, colleges, and schools throughout the nation, while at the same time creating opportunities for innovation in the educational landscape. Although fully online classes are a temporary measure to slow the spread of COVID-19, and as local, state and national governments consider what a reopened economy may look like, educational systems alike are being forced to mitigate the challenges and innovate their educational practices and offerings via learning innovation and digitalization.

In the Philadelphia region, Neumann University transitioned quickly into an online learning setting thanks to close to two years of prior preparation. For the last 24 months, the university has been expanding its online and remote learning capabilities, President Chris Domes told Invest: Insights in a virtual interview. “Our faculty were well-prepared. Our students work off of their devices and their phones, they already live in a virtual world socially, and now they get to live in a virtual world academically,” Domes said. In similar fashion, in New Jersey, the Rutgers School of Nursing–Camden, was preparing for a shift in the educational landscape as early as February. In February, the university created an emergency operation center as part of its risk-management strategy, school of nursing Dean Donna Nickitas told Invest: Insights in a virtual interview. “By the time we got to spring break, we knew we were going to have to make some quick changes,” Nickitas said. The nursing school quickly notified students if they needed resources like computers, webcams, and access to remote learning software.

Under the COVID-19 landscape, tuition-dependent institutions are among the most vulnerable as students are liable to put their education plans on pause as they grapple with loss of employment and income. Colleges and universities with strong endowments and alumni contributions will likely survive the impact of COVID-19, but declines in revenue and increases in costs will likely loom for the coming academic years. Declining revenues could stifle innovation as institutions reprioritize budgets and offerings. 

However, a life post-COVID-19 may be ripe with opportunities for innovation and further streamlining of classes. COVID-19 helped destigmatize fully online learning. Moving forward, educational leaders will likely see online education as more than a source for extra revenues. Instead, online education will likely become an integral part of institutional resilience and academic continuity. Educational institutions will have to rethink how they plan for, fund, and market online learning. More unified institutions will emerge from the coronavirus pandemic, as online courses and student support functions become more centralized and integrated into existing academic structures and processes. 

After student outreach efforts, Neumann University found that close to 80 percent of its students were adjusting well to the remote learning setting. The university is working to assist all of its students with resources like tutoring, student engagement activities, counseling, and more. The feedback gathered from students will help determine what innovations and changes the institution needs to make for the future, according to Domes. “We are getting initial feedback from our students and are utilizing that to help us understand that moving forward if we remain in this status for some time what are we learning and how might we make this more appropriate for students in the future so that we make sure we are adapting along the way,” he said. For Rutgers School of Nursing–Camden, the school is preparing to continue to groom the next generation of nurses and healthcare professionals. “What we have learned is that we need to be prepared, Nickitas said. Though summer and fall enrollments figures will likely fall due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Nickitas hopes the essentiality of nurses and healthcare professionals will motivate more students to explore a career in medicine. “I do hope that because of the kind of publicity that TV stations and media are giving nurses, that people understand not only what nurses do, but what they know. Hopefully, that will resonate with some individuals and inspire them to say, ‘I want to make a difference, that is what I want to do.’”

Additionally, it is possible that online learning goes truly global as colleges and universities expand their student base to allow for more international students who may never see the inside of a physical campus. 

The lasting impact of COVID-19 to the educational sector remains to be seen. For the time being, it is likely that students will finish the spring semester and potentially the 2019-2020 school year from the comfort of their homes. As educators prepare for summer and fall semesters, they will have to contend with the challenges and opportunities of educating students in a post-COVID-19 world.       

To learn more about our interviewees, visit:

https://nursing.camden.rutgers.edu/

https://www.neumann.edu/

To see our full interview with the education leaders and more, visit:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=42&v=V9oL3kIX-NI&feature=emb_title

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8wU5yYFccw&feature=emb_title

https://live.capitalanalyticsassociates.com/invest-insights/

Spotlight On: Gregory Sorensen, Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, Tower Health

By: Max Crampton-Thomas

2 min read April 2020 — Tower Health is a regional, integrated healthcare provider/payer system that oversees six acute care hospitals and other entities serving 2.5 million people. Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer Gregory Sorensen told Invest: what Tower is doing to handle the influx of COVID-19 patients, the community’s role in fighting the virus and his message to the community.

What accommodations is your hospital making to handle the influx of patients due to the COVID-19 outbreak? 

We monitor our bed capacity hourly. The elimination of elective surgeries and the general decline in routine demand for care has reduced normal bed demand and is freeing up beds for possible use by COVID-19 patients. We will also coordinate bed capacity among Tower hospitals.

How is your hospital working to ensure that patients and healthcare professionals alike are maintaining a safe environment?

Safety for our employees and patients is our top priority. Like other healthcare providers, Tower Health is working very hard to manage and conserve our supplies of masks, eye protection, disinfecting wipes, gowns, and other materials related to controlling the spread of COVID-19. Our normal production sources and distribution channels have been interrupted, just as they have for every hospital in the country. While our inventories are not at normal levels, with careful management we believe we can meet current needs. We are working to acquire additional supply. We are implementing a number of strategies, including sharing supplies across Tower Health facilities; gathering supplies from shuttered outpatient clinical areas and getting them to the hospitals; and identifying alternative sources for supplies. 

How can the community best assist local healthcare providers in this time of need?

We have been gratified by the many offers from area businesses, organizations, and individuals to donate supplies and we are accepting contributions of specific items. More information is available on our web site.

What would your message be to the local community that is sheltering in place and waiting for a return to normalcy?

We encourage all members of the public to adhere to the guidance of the governor and the PA Department of Health on sheltering at home, practicing social distancing and practicing infection prevention. These steps will reduce the spread of COVID-19, which protects the community and helps ensure the safety of our healthcare team and the patients relying on us for care. Our team at Tower Health is committed and prepared to care for our communities through this pandemic. The public can contribute meaningfully to this effort by remaining at home to prevent the spread of the virus.  

Do you feel you are receiving enough state and federal support for items you are in need of? What can these entities be doing better? 

Our public health officials at the local, state and federal levels are working hard to keep the public safe during an unprecedented situation. We support their efforts and are grateful for their dedication, perseverance and leadership. 

To learn more about our interviewee, visit: 

https://www.towerhealth.org/

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