With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the final semester for UCO seniors turned out to be anything but ordinary. In true Broncho style, many faculty and students have embraced this change with flexibility and determination. Students in one senior capstone course at Central have even found a way to assist with metro COVID-19 response efforts as a part of their final learning project.

Community/public health senior, Kelly Smith, takes a selfie as she sits down to write her briefing on April 11.

The Oklahoma City Metro Shelter Directors Response Team contacted faculty in Central’s community/public health program to assist people experiencing homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic. Though students and faculty could not help in person, they could meet a need by providing a daily briefing for the shelter response team. The team has been busy implementing new strategies to protect the populations they serve, leaving little time to seek out daily additional resource information. These much-needed briefings are providing information directly applicable to managing vulnerable populations and specifically people experiencing homelessness during this time along with general daily COVID-19 updates.

The assignment was quickly incorporated into the community/public health capstone class taught by professor J. Sunshine Cowan, Ph.D., as a substitute for the midterm project. Each student will complete one daily briefing to submit to the response team by 3 p.m. The briefings are now being sent to 46 individuals involved with the Oklahoma City Metro Shelter Directors Response Team.

“I am excited about this, as it is a community partner requested need and it gives our students a role to do during this pandemic while still social distancing at home,” said Cowan.

“I am hopeful students will be able to look back on this chapter and know they had a positive impact in otherwise uncertain times.”

Students will research the topics using credible information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization and other professional health and medical sources. An example of the briefings is shown here in the daily briefing from April 8, created by community/public health student Sakinah Al Saleh & edited by Wellness Management graduate student, Bryan Shannon: Health Brief April 8.