Rachel Ng, a 24-year-old registered nurse at Long Island Jewish Valley Stream, a division of Long Island Jewish Medical Center, was afraid to go home after her shifts caring for COVID-19 patients. She was worried she would bring the illness to the others in her house—her parents, six brothers and sisters, and her grandmother. “I was especially worried about my grandmother,” she said.
To keep her family safe, Ng moved into a borrowed RV parked in the driveway of the family’s Plainview, New York, home. “It wasn’t comfortable,” she said.
She’d been living the camper life for a couple of weeks when she found out through a co-worker that Adelphi had opened one of its residence halls to healthcare workers. A thrilled Ng moved into Residence Hall B at the Garden City campus in mid-April. “I was so grateful!” Ng said. “I had been living like a nomad!”
Sheltering frontline healthcare workers like Ng is just one of the ways Adelphi is helping the community during the pandemic. “We felt strongly that offering support to frontline workers was something we needed to do as an institution,” said Maggie Yoon Grafer ’99, MA ’08, chief of staff and associate vice president of external relations at Adelphi. Here are some of the other ways the University has stepped up:
Between 10 and 12 healthcare professionals are living in Residence Hall B right now, said Gene Palma, chief administrative officer and associate vice president at Adelphi. There is room for up to 55 residents, with each living alone in a single room to prevent the spread of infection. There is also a shared kitchen in the building, so they can cook meals. Northwell Health, the company that employs Ng and the other healthcare professionals staying at Adelphi, is doing medical-grade sanitizing of the building daily.
It’s not the first time Adelphi has stepped up in a time of crisis. When Hurricane Sandy hit the area in 2012, the University offered frontline caregivers and workers spaces on campus to sleep and shower. “They had come from all over the country to help our region and it was the right thing to do,” Palma said.
Ng couldn’t be more pleased with the setup at the dorm. Her job is tough enough without worrying about having a place to live. She’s had some of her patients die of COVID-19, and she hasn’t been home since March. “It’s very depressing,” she said. She Zooms with her friends on her days off, and her mom cooks meals for her and leaves them on the porch so Ng can do a contactless pickup.
“I don’t know what I would have done without Adelphi’s help,” Ng said. “There was one time, at the height of the outbreak, when no one wanted me around because they were afraid I would infect them, and I was like, ‘I’m totally alone in this,'” she said. She planned on staying in the dorm through at least the end of May. “I just couldn’t be more thankful for the help I’ve gotten.”
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Adelphi University, New York, is a highly awarded, nationally ranked, powerfully connected doctoral research university dedicated to transforming students’ lives through small classes with world-class faculty, hands-on learning and innovative ways to support academic and career success. Adelphi is one of just four companies and the only university on Long Island to be named among America’s Best Employers by State for 2023 by Forbes.
A surge in 2024 rankings by U.S. News & World Report—up 19 spots as a Best College, up 85 spots for Social Mobility and up 35 spots as a Best Value College—supports Adelphi’s rising reputation. Adelphi serves more than 7,400 students at its beautiful main campus in Garden City, New York—just 23 miles from New York City’s cultural and internship opportunities—and at dynamic learning hubs in Brooklyn, the Hudson Valley and Suffolk County, as well as online.
More than 119,000 Adelphi graduates have gained the skills to thrive professionally as active, engaged citizens, making their mark on the University, their communities and the world.
Todd Wilson
Strategic Communications Director
p – 516.237.8634
e – twilson@adelphi.edu