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Jason Hunter: Medical ICU Clinical Instructor "My name is Jason Hunter and I am the clinical instructor for UMC's Medical ICU. When we first started hearing reports of a virus traveling across the globe, it was difficult to assess just how bad it was really going to be. I was initially responsible with helping to set up our process just in case COVID made it to Lubbock. We prepared for COVID-19 the same way we trained the nurses for Ebola: 2 nurses to one patient with unlimit

Cynthia Grissman: Nurse Manager on CICU Unit (Cardiac Intensive Care Unit) Cynthia has been in this position over 10 years. She began her career at Covenant in 1982 as a biomed tech, then as an environmental tech for several years and decided to go to nursing school. “We were chosen to become the COVID ICU in the very beginning of the pandemic. There was so much unknown and so much fear in our nurses because they did not know what to expect or how to handle it. My husband is

Dr. Lara Johnson: Division Chief for Pediatric Hospital at Texas Tech Health Sciences Center. She was appointed Chief of Staff for Covenant Children’s in February of 2020. “In the beginning we were so uncertain about everything, and we were trying to establish the right protocols. We wanted to keep our patients and staff as protected as possible without a lot of clarity and knowledge. I was trying to figure out how to proceed as a leader at the hospital and help communicate a

Alexandra Bates: Family Nurse Practitioner Alexandra has been with Covenant Health since 2015 as an emergency department nurse and has been a family nurse practitioner for the past two years. “The most challenging part of the pandemic was dealing with the constant new education and changes. We were trying to stay up to date on best practices and precautions to take while getting new information every single day. Things were just changing so quickly, at first, we were told to

Dr. Prakash Shrestha: Infectious Disease Physician Dr. Prakash Shrestha has worked for Covenant as an infectious disease physician for three years. He has worked in the U.S. for 12. “2020 was a huge challenge for all physicians. We are used to treating patients and taking care of their problems. When covid started, people were coming to us for help, and we weren’t confident on how to treat our patients. That was professionally and personally very, very, hard to deal with. The

A Sharp Academy science teacher used her mini-grant from the Community Foundation of West Texas to incorporate multi-sensory learning for her middle school students. Items purchased included: a digital microscope with USB optical camera, 200 piece microscopic slides, an illuminated orbiter, metamorphic rock collection specimens, to name a few. The teacher wrote, “Sixth, seventh, and eighth graders benefit from the amazing gift provided by the grant.” She went on to describe t

With a grant from the Community Foundation of West Texas, Buckner Children and Family Services continued to provide support and a sense of security to their clients. A Buckner member reported, “They just need a little support and help to get through the hard times and have someone believe in them.” The organization tells of one client’s story: “We had one mom that is outgoing, energetic, and determined to be a success. She always smiles and has a hug for anyone. She is the mo

A Frenship Elementary teacher used her mini-grant from the Community Foundation of West Texas to fund her “Makey Makey an Engineer out of You” project. The “Makey Makey” kits allowed students to create various controllers out of any object and use their imagination. The teacher wrote, “The students were able to repurpose recyclable materials along with the Makey Makey kits to invent innovative and unique controllers.” The Frenship teacher reported one story of the kits used i

With a mini-grant from the Community Foundation of West Texas, a Trinity Christian School elementary teacher executed her “Computing from the Inside Out” project. This project taught students about engineering, how computer circuits work, problem-solving, and collaboration. After a semester of online learning, students were eager to reconnect and work together. The teacher further explained the project objective: “They created marble mazes that accomplished provided objective