UIHC has done a lot to ensure safety when entering healthcare buildings. Patients, faculty, and staff are all screened and get their temperature taken before entering a facility. Faculty and staff are constantly monitored for COVID symptoms, and PPE is required constantly. The hospital has designated a COVID floor, with specialized nurses dedicated to the COVID patients. As of June 25, healthcare system has treated 241 adults and 11 pediatric inpatients with COVID, and has conducted 17,800 Telehealth screenings for COVID and 15,800 visits to the influenza-like clinic. Something that Dr. Brennan stressed during our conversation (drug rehab can help relieve stress) was the impact on the hospital’s regular patients during this time. Patients have had to postpone care because of the risk of contracting COVID, as well as not being able to have their family with them during treatment because of the hospital’s restrictions.

Over the last 3 months, there has been an 8000% surge in Telehealth visits at UIHC, with over 63,000 patients receiving virtual care. As UIHC plans to continue utilizing Telehealth services in the future, they are currently focused on determining the optimal approach for its implementation. Furthermore, they are working on ensuring that their staffing and scheduling align with the demands of Telehealth. If you prefer a face-to-face visit, you can visit the walk-in clinic East Elmhurst, which is conveniently located nearby.

UIHC started ordering more PPE in order to prepare for COVID in January. Leadership has been very aggressive in ordering PPE, sometimes having to pay more or get supplies from new pharm suppliers. Because we don’t know what the future holds, the hospital is conserving PPE in case of a second wave. One thing that Dr. Brennan stressed is that UIHC always follows the rules, and that PPE is being used for its suggested amount of time and no longer.

Navigating the complicated world of importing medical equipment can be daunting. That’s why we recommend seeking professional help, like the experts at Andaman Medical who provide comprehensive assistance. They have extensive experience in regulatory affairs and compliance, ensuring a smooth process for their clients. Their team is knowledgeable and dedicated to helping you understand the specific requirements for your products.

Something that has significantly improved the conservation and correct use of PPE is UIHC’s partnership with the College of Public Health. CPH has been working to reprocess and sanitize used PPE so that it can be reused instead of simply thrown away. This makes it easier for UIHC to have constant access to safe PPE,

Dr. Brennan and I talked about the recent Johnson County increase, and she said that she agrees that the economy needed to open up in order to take care of the community, but the lack of masks, social distancing, and the fact that people are tired of the restrictions and choose to not follow safety standards is why there has been an increase, and this also made an increase on Travel Nursing IO jobs. People who are social have the highest risk of contracting COVID, which is commonly the 18-25 age group. This age group, however, generally responds to COVID the best and doesn’t usually require hospitalization.

Dr. Brennan wants people to know that the COVID pandemic is not over yet and to “Please continue to practice social distancing, and consider how your activities impact yourself and others. We all want to be out and about again, but the safest thing is still to stay home.” You can also look into getting a life insurance quote at www.lifecoverquotes.org.uk to protect your family’s financial future.

The post University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and COVID-19 appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Simply because it isn’t reasonable or realistic that people would be sitting out in the cold and wet, I have had to look to the indoors. On a particular adventure into the lobby of Burge Residence Hall, I found Molly.

When I first approached Molly, she was hesitant to answer my questions. She appeared busy on her laptop and wary of the stranger who suddenly asked to take her picture.

I could tell right away that Molly was someone who got stuff done. Molly didn’t seem like the type to sit down and let life take advantage of her. I later found this to be true, as she told me that in the last week she had turned in four papers and taken a test on top of that.

I also learned from our conversation that Molly is in the same boat as a lot of us– still trying to figure things out. As a sophomore at the University of Iowa, she has decided to drop a journalism major and venture into a differing field.

“I was a double major in journalism and communications, but journalism isn’t really my thing,” Molly told me, “I’m thinking of going into some sort of marketing instead.”

Molly is a prime example of a University of Iowa student– trying to decide what the hell she’s doing with her life, weighted down by homework, and probably sleep-deprived. In fact, when I asked Molly what she was excited for, she replied, “I’m pretty excited to sleep.”

We get it, Molly. Thanks for sharing, and go take a nap.

Iowa City Observations is a continuing column in which I venture out into the streets of Iowa City and ask people to inspire me, as well as make probably irrelevant observations about Iowa City itself.

This column was inspired by Humans of New York. Check out their Facebook page and Instagram account.

The post Iowa City Observations: Molly appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Hundreds of people pass through Van Allen Hall everyday, but only a few of them notice that a wreath and a stone tablet lie in front of the building. There are four names and a date on the tablet:

IN MEMORY OF

PROF. CHRISTOPH K. GOERTZ

PROF. DWIGHT R. NICHOLSON

DR. LINHUA SHAN

PROF. ROBERT A. SMITH

1 NOVEMBER 1991

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY

So what really happened on November 1^st, 1991?

24 Years Ago: An Incident that Shocked the Entire Nation

Long before the spree of school shootings, which most people believe was set off by the Columbine shooting in 1999, there was the University of Iowa shooting (Also known as the Gang Lu Incident) that killed six people, including three professors, a vice president of the university, a researcher, and the gunman himself; another student was paralyzed for life.

The gunman, Gang Lu, was an international student from China. He started the shooting spree because he was angry that he failed to get a reward of $2,500. On November 1st, 1991, Lu attended a conference on the third floor of the Van Allen Hall, and opened fire a few minutes later, killing three people in that room. He then went to the second floor to shoot the chairman of the department in his office. Lu moved to Jessup Hall on the Pentacrest, and killed T. Anne Cleary, the vice president of academic affairs and injured another student in that office. Lu was originally planning on killing the president of the University of Iowa at that time, Hunter Rawlings III, but failed to do so because president Hunter was not on campus at that time. Lu then went to room 203 in Jessup Hall and killed himself.

Although a Chinese committed these crimes, the public did not turn their anger toward Chinese students in Iowa City. Instead, people agreed that this is an isolated incident and has nothing to do with the Chinese students in general.

24 Years Later: What Changed

The 1991’s shooting remains one of the most horrible events that has happened at the University of Iowa, and been covered by major news media around the nation. However, today’s people in the University of Iowa have little memory of this incident.

Many students know some details of the incident by knowing the origin of Cleary Walkway on campus, while others who were born in the Iowa City area heard about the incident from their parents or other relatives. Unlike most domestic students who see this incident as a simple campus shooting, most Chinese students who know about this incident focus more on the gunman’s ethnicity.

Things have changed in the past 24 years and generally speaking, if a mass shooting happens on campus now, we are much safer than 24 years ago. For example, Hawk Alert, a crime alert platform that was formed after the Gang Lu incident, can immediately alert us via texts and emails; and cell phones and social media make it easier to get the latest updates of the incident.

The things that happened 24 years ago may not be able to take place on today’s campus, as after Lu killed four people in Van Allen Hall, he wouldn’t have been able to walk three more blocks to continue his shooting spree.

However, there are still problems. One of the problems is that the University of Iowa still lacks ample counseling services on campus. In fact, just a few months ago the university was ranked as the school with the lowest number of counseling services on campus, comparing to other Big Ten universities.

What happened 24 years ago is a horrible tragedy. But we should not just let it be forgotten. Instead, we should tell people that such tragedy happened, and we are doing our best to prevent it from happening again.

What do you think? Please feel free to comment.

Yihao is also the host of the show “Global Perspective” at KRUI every Wednesday from 3-4 pm. The show focuses on international students’ issues in Iowa City, as well as introducing different cultures around the world.

The post Global Perspective: The Gang Lu Incident: 24 years later appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Within three consecutive days this month on campus, I heard some of the most prejudiced bullshit by ignorant, white people that I’ve ever heard.

I can’t say I’m very surprised. Although Iowa City has touted its ranking on many lists as a liberal haven in the Midwest, prejudiced attitudes pervade our society, especially on a college campus with so many people from different parts of the world.

Wednesday, October 7th: While eating my sub-par pizza at Burge, I heard two kids next to me talking about international students, specifically those from China. They both agreed that Chinese students insisted on remaining anti-social and only hanging out with other Chinese students, making them “kinda racist.” I whipped my head around and squinted my eyes as if to say “Seriously?” and that seemed to shut them up.

Firstly, nonwhite people cannot be racist to white people because only the latter group occupies a privileged place in society benefiting from institutional structures. Only white people can be racist.

Watch this short, blunt for more information.

Secondly, people don’t owe you shit! The individuals you’re referring to probably knew that you’re an unfriendly, prejudiced ass-hat with whom spending time would not be enjoyable!

Refer to the graphic below for more information.

These kinds of racist conversations probably happen thousands of times a day all across campus, but the more surprising and in my opinion, important, interactions occur in the classroom.

Thursday, October 8th: One of my classes required that students perform speeches regarding food advertisements’ strategies effectiveness. Because my TA showed examples critiquing the unhealthy nature of fast food and connecting that to weight gain, 75% of my class read speeches that drew a direct connection between unhealthy eating habits and all fat people, and denounced those body types.

This argument relies on a post hoc fallacy, and more importantly, makes certain assumptions about fat people that enforce western beauty standards and through fat-shaming. As someone whose body does not conform to western beauty standards, I sat through 13 speeches that expressed disgust with my body type, and also connected the shape of my body to poor eating habits.

I do not eat fast food. I will mooch a fry from my friends or get a cookie from McDonald’s, but my diet does not consist of regular trips to Burger King, Wendy’s or any other fast food place. I am also healthy, and the fact that all of these people including my teacher correlated my appearance which does not appeal to Eurocentric beauty expectations to my dietary choices pisses me the fuck off.

How dare you police my body and impose your arbitrary, oppressive expectations on me? How dare you judge a person’s life choices based on physical appearances you have been brainwashed to value over other ones? Fat people do not exist to make you feel better or act as a threatening example for you. There is no wrong way to have a body.

My teacher, the only person with authority in the room, failed to say anything. I did not expect her to interrupt a speech to highlight the offensive nature of the topic, but she didn’t say ANYTHING! Not even after the whole unit ended! When I wrote about my frustration in my project feedback, she finally acknowledged how upsetting the content of the speeches may have felt to students in the class and simply said she “wondered how we can do better.”

Passivity seems to be the primary approach that TAs use to deal with difficult issues like these, since the same kind of situation happened in another one of my classes.

Friday, October 9th: The most incredulous example of racism I experienced that week happened in the classroom, again. During a discussion about postcolonial criticism, one white guy in my English class described the mass murder of indigenous people with European diseases as biologically “upgrading the Native Americans.” Another white guy immediately called him on his racist rhetoric, which I appreciated, but I wasn’t satisfied for long. The second white guy proceeded to pride himself on the number of nonwhite authors he has read, but when I asked him which authors he liked, he said the names were too long and confusing, so he “didn’t bother learning them.”

In ten minutes, one white man erased thousands of years of the slaughter of indigenous people and somehow managed to frame it into the idea of American exceptionalism: the idea that this country has no colonial past and was founded on pure intentions. Then, another white man single-handedly disrespected all nonwhite author whose name had an unfamiliar sequence of letters, thereby disregarding the creators of literature which markedly reduces the influences of the texts. How fucking rude.

I impatiently waited for my TA to say something and ask people to choose their words more carefully, acknowledging the problematic discourse. However, he basically coddled the two men and told them mistakes were acceptable and to learn from them. That’s not enough for me.

I understand that a fine line exists between attacking a student and educating someone on their prejudiced ideas, but as an educator, he had a responsibility to figure out his role in those kind of situations and carry it the fuck out. As a woman of color in a predominantly white male class, I do not and cannot have the sole responsibility of being the spokesperson for all people of color and calling out racism, especially in an environment where I am outnumbered.

I met with my TA about my uncomfortable feelings during the discussion section, and told him that if that was how he would deal with slightly difficult interactions between students, I did not want to attend class anymore. He sympathized with my feelings and told me he wished he had been more prepared of what to say at the time. He also expressed apprehension about policing that sort of speech in the classroom, and worried about imposing his political beliefs on his students.

I’m pretty skeptical of that concern, but he does beg the question about how to separate the two. In my mind, the comments those two white guys made conveyed racist ideas and they offended me. They are objectively wrong. Others may not share this idea, so where does that leave us? This is a question that requires the attention of academia immediately.

According to this Guardian article by Rachel Williams, less than 10% of university professors are nonwhite which means that white professors dominate almost all conversations regarding race.

If they cannot distinguish the forcing of their political beliefs from preventing prejudiced comments among their own community, college campuses won’t have this ability either, and nor will college classrooms: a place where students’ minds should stretch and expand and become educated.

Racism and prejudices still exist; that’s pretty much common sense. However, when supposedly educated people with authority allow these attitudes to pervade a setting like a classroom, the problem becomes systematic and arguably state-sanctioned. We must work to decolonize classrooms, where students and teachers should engage in productive, educational conversations. This task lies with academia, and needs their attention now.

The post Decolonize Your Mind: In the Classroom appeared first on KRUI Radio.