12
Bay Pathway Spring/Summer 2021
ALL HANDS
ON DECK
INTENSIFIES
HANDS-ON
LEARNING
FOR
PUBLIC
HEALTH
STUDENTS
In the spring of 2020, as COVID-19 quickly escalated from
faraway mystery virus to omnipresent public health emergency,
students in Bay Path's health sciences programs found
themselves at a fortuitous moment, when understanding and
providing community level healthcare became an urgent and
critical call to action.
For Paulina Matusik G'21, who was studying for her master's
in public health, the pandemic was an impetus to bring her
education to community efforts to contain COVID-19 and
protect healthcare workers.
At the outset of the pandemic, Matusik had been working in
the referrals department of Trinity Health of New England, but
as the pandemic pressed the agility and resourcefulness of
organizations, it became clear that she had much to offer.
"I was focused on insurance, referring people to doctors and
processing referrals, but because of my public health background,
Trinity pulled me into a hospital setting," she explains. "The
situation was severe at nursing homes, and I was tasked with
coordinating weekly testing with all the practice supervisors
and all the employees at all the satellite offices."
"Because I knew so much, I never really had a break," Matusik
adds. "I worked with nurses, doctors, and medical directors and
