Riverdale Transforms Its Healthcare System to Keep Students on Campus
Nurse Nilda Nystrom, in full PPE, joins the talented nursing team.
Photo courtesy of the Communications Department
In the pre-Covid world, healthcare was a distant thought in the minds of most Riverdalians. And why wouldn’t it be? For most, a trip to the nurse’s office for a cut, a sore throat, or a headache was the only time they thought about healthcare at school. However, when a worldwide pandemic propelled the whole Riverdale community into remote learning, the administration was tasked with making both big and small changes to its healthcare system in order to allow for learning on campus while still preventing the spread of Covid-19. These changes have had a significant impact on students’ school days.
Throughout every step of the pandemic, members of the administration have made sure that they were making well-informed decisions. Assistant Head of School for Operations Dr. Kelley Nicholson-Flynn explained that Riverdale administrators receive guidance from three main sources: the CDC, the New York City Department of Education, and the New York State Department of Health. Because Covid-19 is a constantly evolving issue, the recommendations that the school receives are ever-changing. A group of administrators, which Nicholson-Flynn calls the “operations team,” meets weekly. A separate weekly meeting takes place among the nursing staff to discuss their observations of the campus.
The school has instituted new safety protocols that families must adhere to before a student is allowed on campus. Each morning, faculty and students are required to fill out a health questionnaire and take their temperature. Upon completion, they receive a text message with a QR code, which they must have accessible upon arrival at school. After another temperature check in a tent located near Mow Hall, these QR codes are scanned, and with that, faculty and students are off to class.
Just last year, it was not uncommon to see jam-packed hallways as students rushed to get to their next class during the five minute transition period. Now, in an effort to reduce Covid-19 transmission by controlling the flow of traffic in buildings, all hallways are marked with arrows that indicate the direction Riverdalians should follow. If you take a stroll through any building on campus, it is apparent that the hallways have become much less dense, partly because there are fewer students on campus, but also because the arrows allow for social distancing and prevent students from congregating.
The administration has also dedicated significant time to devise an efficient Covid-19 testing system. Riverdale’s new partnership with Miramus Clinical Labs, a Brooklyn-based Covid-19 saliva pool testing company, ensures that students no longer have to go to a doctor’s office to have a long swab stuck up their noses. Now testing is as easy as being selected via email and going to the tennis court to spit in a tube. Junior JJ Davidoff, who has participated four times, said “it is a little bit uncomfortable to spit in front of other people, but it is also good because you want to know if you have Covid.” Students do not have to wait long to know if they test positive; Nicholson-Flynn reported that results come back usually within 24 hours. On a recent cold day in late January, Riverdale students could be seen getting close with one another (socially distanced, of course) as they tried to get their spit past the threshold marked on the tube while simultaneously trying to keep warm. Starting on February 16, Riverdale will begin administering the BinaxNow antigen test, where the sample is collected from a gentle nasal swab.
Pre-pandemic, many students viewed the nurse’s office as a home away from home, where chats with Nurse Lide and naps between classes were welcomed. When asked how a day in her life has changed over the past year, Middle and Upper School Nurse Aileen Moore said “now it is just so different because we don’t really see kids anymore. We miss them.” Nurse Moore continued that “now it is a lot of paperwork and making phone calls and dealing with the Department of Health.” By the same token of the on campus changes specific to Covid-19, Riverdale has made a new hire, Middle and Upper School Nurse Nilda Nystrom, to work alongside Nurse Moore.
With Covid-19 has also come new sanitary practices, many of which will naturally diminish as the pandemic comes to an end. However, several community members hope some will stay in place for good. Junior Grant Schwartz said “washing hands in general is always a good thing, but the pandemic has really cemented that into our zeitgeist, and I think that is a good thing.” Nicholson-Flynn said that as a permanent measure she “wants to make it so it is easier to eat outside,” like it was in the fall. It should not be hard to convince Riverdalians to wash their hands frequently or eat outside, but it will be interesting to see how willing they are to maintain other current norms. For example, Nurse Moore said “a lot of people say they would love to see masks all the time, maybe for flu season,” adding that “we are not seeing a lot of kids sick with the flu like we always used to.”
Considered essential workers, a huge number of faculty have already gotten the Covid-19 vaccine, a huge step forward in the fight against Covid-19.
Both the students and faculty have shown their flexibility in adapting to the unprecedented circumstances of the pandemic. As a result, we will all come out of this time stronger than we were before it. As Nicholson-Flynn points out, “even when we are not perfect, we are doing our best.”
