Cathy Rinehart, RN, came to Stetson University as the Health Service coordinator in August 2013 after many years in school nursing with Illinois Public Schools.

At Stetson, Rinehart runs Health Service in Griffith Hall, providing students, faculty and staff with wellness, disease prevention and non-emergency health care in partnership with AdventHealth DeLand. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from Illinois Wesleyan University.

In recent months, she said, her job has “changed quite a bit, as my focus now is COVID-19 crisis management.” She provides guidance and checks with members of the Stetson Community in DeLand and at the College of Law, who are in isolation or self-quarantine due to exposure to the coronavirus. She also keeps up to date on directives from the Florida Department of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, playing a vital role in helping the university stop the spread of COVID-19.

Despite her busy schedule, she found time this week to answer five questions from Stetson Today.

Can you describe how COVID-19 has changed the way Stetson Health Service operates and your work routine?

There are some significant changes here. Now, the front door is always locked. This is safe practice. We are not accepting walk-in visits. When you arrive to the front door, you are instructed to call the number posted on the door. We talk with you over the phone to determine that you are here for a scheduled appointment. We are masked, open the door and hand the incoming patient a mask if they are not already wearing one. The patient completes a brief coronavirus screening, their temperature is checked and they are immediately brought back into an exam room. No one is allowed to sit and wait in the waiting room to adhere to good social-distancing practice. This keeps everyone as safe as we are able.

We don’t just do in-person visits anymore. We are doing three types of visits now: in-person, tele-visits and phone visits. Tele-visits and phone visits do not collect any health insurance required co-pays that are typical with in-person visits, so there is a little bit of a savings for the patient.

Of course, we are seeing far fewer patients since classes have gone online and so few people are actually on campus. We do have a provider in the clinic Monday through Friday. 

We are trying to schedule in-person “well” visits in the morning and in-person “sick” visits in the afternoon to decrease potential contact with infectious diseases.

My work has changed quite a bit, as my focus now is COVID-19 crisis management. I work with all DeLand campus and College of Law employee/student coronavirus concerns; fielding questions, directing isolations/quarantines and keeping in contact with those individuals throughout their isolation/quarantine periods. I am frequently communicating with Florida Department of Health and checking current CDC policy/protocol directives.

How many members of the Stetson community (students, faculty and staff) are you seeing a day or a week, and generally what are their chief concerns?

Since the “Stay-at-Home” mandate, we are seeing significantly fewer patients than we would during “normal” times.  Before the “Stay-at-Home” mandate and the clearing of residence halls, we were seeing a lot of concerns over potential COVID-19 cases, cold, flu, fevers, coughs. That is not the case now. People have gone home and are seeing their local providers.

Is Stetson Health Service conducting testing for the coronavirus? Are you getting a lot requests for testing?

Currently, Health Service is not a COVID-19 testing site. We refer individuals to the few local testing sites that are available. We look forward to eventually having tests for COVID-19 available at the clinic. 

As a medical professional, could you share a few insights that you’re learned about COVID-19 that might be helpful for the Stetson community?

I would say it’s not so much what I have learned, rather, it’s what I have known to be true that has been radically reinforced through this event, and those things are:

• WASH YOUR HANDS, 
• STAY HOME WHEN YOU ARE SICK, 
• CLEAN FREQUENTLY USED SURFACES,
• STAY AWAY FROM SITUATIONS/PEOPLE THAT COULD PUT YOUR HEALTH AT RISK,
• COVER YOUR COUGHS AND SNEEZES, 
• USE BARRIERS (LIKE MASKS)  
• and if there is ever a vaccine against COVID-19, GET IT! BECAUSE IMMUNIZATIONS ARE LIFE SAVERS.

How has COVID-19 personally changed your own lifestyle and routine? 

Well, I do have a cloth mask handy when I am in public. I wear a surgical mask in the clinic when patients are present. I check my temperature daily. Those are definitely behaviors new to my routine!

I am continuously scanning CDC updates, health department information and news items about the latest on this devastating pandemic. So, I’m emotionally drained a good part of the time. 

A big change that is also negative for me is not being able to be close to other people, to touch, to pat, to hug. I believe in therapeutic touch. I also believe in social distancing. What a conundrum.

Take good care, everyone. Stay safe and stay well.