USD Magazine Fall 2020

C o n t a c t t r a c i n g c r u c i a l t o e n d p a n d e m i c [ h e l p e r s ] A N SWE R I N G T H E C A L L

us, you feed the hungry, give drink to those who thirst. The role of church extends far be- yond the walls of the building,” says Wolf. “Jesus always healed and always fed. He served human needs before he even got around to the business of teaching, and I think that’s what a good church does, no matter what.” Since March, the program’s 21 parishes and more than 200 volunteers have spent thousands of hours handing out food at drive-thru pantries in parking lots and providing delivery for those unable to leave their homes. Volunteers have included USD resident ministers, who’ve helped collect and deliver food to the San Diego community. “University Ministry at USD has enjoyed a long and rich partnership with Catholic Chari- ties,” says Michael Lovette-Coly- er, PhD, assistant vice president and director of University Minis- try. “When we heard about their plan to respond to the pandemic through the Emergency Food Distribution Network, we imme- diately asked if we could help. Doing so has allowed us to ad- vance our vision of serving as an anchor institution while responding to the needs of our local community.” With these community-driven efforts and established relation- ships, Wolf sees Catholic Chari- ties’ work, both now and in the future, as being accomplished hand in hand with parish part- ners, establishing long-term con- nections to support the common good and advance our faith. And for Wolf, that faith is rooted in Jesus’ love. “When I think about Catholic Charities and our work with the Emergency Food Distribution Network and other opportunities to volunteer, that is taking the love that Christ has given you and giving it to others, no matter who they are.”

by Liz Harman hen it comes to pub- lic service, USD grad- uate nursing student Tiffany Duong stands ready to answer the call. Over the summer, Duong completed training offered by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Service on the latest sci- ence and tools to fight COVID-19 with contact tracing. Along with identifying people with the virus and whom they’ve had contact with, the training includes infor- mation about how best for con- tact tracers to ask them to isolate and quarantine at home. While convincing those test- ing positive to provide such information is not always easy, W

in good stead for the future when she graduates in 2021. USD’s nursing school is one of a few in the country whose graduates in the master’s entry program in nursing (MEPN) like Duong earn a public health credential. “I would love to be a part of the effort to identify and contain any outbreak,” if neces- sary, Duong says. She worked in hospital administration before entering the master’s program for those with bachelor’s degrees in non-nursing fields. “I am grateful for this opportu- nity through our school as it came at such a crucial time and puts us at the forefront of service during this public health crisis.”

the training focused “on how to work with different people, all of whom may have a different experience or understanding of COVID-19,” she says. “We learned to ask open-ended questions in a variety of ways.” The six-hour online training emphasizes building confidence and rapport and was “extremely valuable and practical.” Duong will likely put her new skills to use this fall at USD, when her teammay work directly with the county to identify, notify, trace and support any community mem- bers with a positive COVID-19 diagnosis, and those who may need to quarantine due to contact. She says the training will put her

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Fall 2020