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Letter from the President
DEAR NOTRE DAME FAMILY: This momentous edition of the ND Journal represents one of the most unique years in the history of Notre Dame High School. As documented on page four, life changed when on-campus learning was suspended on March 13, yet the Mission and Catholic Identity of Notre Dame were there to guide us. We responded to the challenges of COVID-19 by going “Above and Beyond” expectations. The stories in this Journal are testament to our faith, commitment and resilience. Since 1957 when the doors of Notre Dame opened and the12 Sisters of Mercy taught our first students, ND has always stayed true to its Mission, most especially, living the Core Values of the Sisters of Mercy. These pages are filled with accounts of alumni serving on the frontlines of the pandemic; students and current families responding to the needs of the local community and students stepping up to perform the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy. Heroes can also be found in the stories of our Days of Caring when our current Notre Dame students and families were also challenged to go “Above and Beyond” for their families and communities. For example, students like Joe Kesting ’21 played concerts for the residents of CareOne Assisted Living, or Tim Skelton ’20 who donated food at his local parish in Millstone, or Hanry Yang ’21, who donated PPE to area healthcare facilities. Please carefully read all the stories of heroism in the section entitled “Healthcare Heroes” where you will learn about Clare Ann Gallucci ’88 Spadea who works as a registered nurse at Penn Medicine at Princeton Medical Center, where she cared for COVID-19 patients at the height of the virus. Clare left behind her fears to serve the needs of her critically ill patients. Morgan Fink ’12, also served on the frontline as an ER Physician Assistant at Newark Beth Israel Hospital where she witnessed firsthand the significant mortality of COVID-19. These two stories and those of all of the other alumni heroes are worth reading as part of our daily reflection on life and our need to go “Above and Beyond” in times of crisis. I hope these stories of alumni and current students inspire your heart and imagination to go “Above and Beyond” and recognize Notre Dame as an extraordinary institution of learning and service. Now more than ever, as we continue the school year in a hybrid learning model, we need your support as alumni, parents, and friends of Notre Dame to also step-up and go “Above and Beyond” in your support of the great work that is happening on this campus so that the next generation of students will benefit as well. Thank you for your support of Notre Dame High School and our critical Mission to produce the next generation of young women and men who will make a difference in the world guided by their faith and the wonderful lessons learned at their beloved alma mater.
Go Irish!
KENNETH E. JENNINGS President
DAYS OF CARING
When Notre Dame suspended on-campus learning the afternoon of March 13, faculty, staff and students prepared to work and learn from home. The Advancement Office was busy cancelling upcoming spring events. Sadly, this meant that the Athletic Hall of Fame, Handbag BINGO and Annual Golf events had to be postponed until the fall and beyond. The Office also decided to cancel the annual Day of Giving traditionally held on March 17. “There was no way we were going to ask the community to support an appeal so soon after quarantine was announced,” said Maggie Kelly, SVP/Director of Institutional Advancement. “There were so many unknowns and the virus was poised to impact many in our area.” Instead, with the support of ND President Ken Jennings, the Office was able to execute an alternate plan, and so, Days of Caring was launched. The first annual Days of Caring was a special component of ND’s Holy Week solemnity, and offered an opportunity for the ND community to celebrate its gifts of faith and also to highlight the many ways the ND community cares for one another. Over a period of three days, (April 6 – 8), beginning with a prayer offered by Campus Ministry and inspirational messages from President Jennings and Principal Barlow, the ND community was challenged to engage in “Acts of Caring” ( i.e. helping at home and/or, within the community, supporting siblings, etc.). On the second day (Messages of Caring), the ND community was encouraged to send a note of thanks to a favorite teacher or someone in their family. Over the period of two days, more than 100 acts and/or messages of caring were recorded and posted to social media. This three-day recognition of caring culminated with a Mass celebrated by ND Chaplain, Father Jason Parzynski, which was live-streamed from St. Rose of Lima Church in Belmar, NJ. The events were so well received that the activities will be repeated annually at the beginning of Easter week.
HERE ARE JUST A FEW OF THE STORIES OF CARING:
Student Creates Digital Platform for Frontline Workers
Christian Huang ‘21, along with his siblings Alexander Huang-Menders and Celeste Huang-Menders, created Share Some Care, a digital platform that is used to raise awareness of the vital resources frontline responders need to combat the COVID-19 global crisis. Share Some Care can be used to connect people and businesses who can spare excess supplies with local critical service providers to serve the community.
International Student Donates PPE
ND International Student Haoyu (Hanry) Yang ’21 donated Personal
Protective Equipment (PPE) last
March. Hanry said, "When I heard that some of the hospitals had a shortage of PPE, my mom and I decided to donate masks and protective suits to local hospitals and healthcare facilities. Hanry donated 500 masks to the St. Mary Medical Center.
Student Plays Virtual Concert for CareOne Residents
Joe Kesting ’21 put on a miniature concert for the residents of CareOne Assisted Living in Hamilton, NJ. Joe said, "During difficult times, residents have no access to the outside world and cannot see any visitors. To ease their minds a little bit, I thought I would put together a few songs on the piano and play for them."
Parker Stergion ’23 adopted three local families in need. He donated and delivered much-needed groceries, pantry staples, and paper goods to these families. Parker worked with his local charity Neighbor In Need to help his community members, and safely dropped the groceries to each family on their front porch at least 2-3 times per month.
Students Send Postcards to the Elderly
Katherine ’21 and Matthew ’23 Benjamin wrote postcards to grandparents and members of their church community who are elderly, live alone, or otherwise felt isolated. The cards were a way to connect and "visit" during the time of travel restrictions.
Student Donates Food to Local Parish
Tim Skelton ’20 donated food at his local parish in Millstone
Township, NJ where they initiated a "no questions asked" food pantry so anyone could take what they need at no cost.
Gratitude for Nurses
David DiSanzo ’22 made cards for the nurses at Temple University Hospital. The cards were filled with words of encouragement and thanks. David made a total of 122 cards in one day.
Alumna Leads the Way During COVID-19 Fear
Julia Rose Palmucci ’14 helped elderly people in her community. Amidst all the fear of the coronavirus, Julia understood that the elderly were afraid to leave their homes, so she lead efforts to shop and run errands for them in her home town of Durham, NC. She also asked like-minded young people to launch the same effort in their counties.
Class of 2019 Alumni Partner to Help Healthcare Providers
Eddie Monahan ’19 started Colorful
Dreams, a non-profit dedicated to helping those with developmental disabilities live their life to the fullest. In a gesture of community service Colorful Dreams brought food and personal protective equipment to healthcare providers when the pandemic began. Eddie partnered with classmate Alex Balsamo ’19, whose family operates Villaggio Iccara, to provide over 300 meals and $3,000 to Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center and Capital Health.
Acts of Caring from an Alumna
Taylor Cohen ’13 made and donated headband mask supports. These special headbands keep masks from chafing medical workers' ears. Taylor hand-crocheted headbands using cotton or acrylic yarn so they can be washed by hand. She sent headbands to New Jersey and Massachusetts, and offered the headbands to anyone who wanted them. Her special message: "To all the essential workers, from grocery store cashiers to janitors to doctors, nurses, and all medical professionals, thank you for all that you do for us during these hard times."
Alumna and Faculty Member Make Masks
Kathleen Steuber, from the ND College and School Counseling Office, made masks from her home to donate to those in need. Bonnie Clawson ‘96 Milecki, former ND teacher, worked with her family to make masks for those in need as well. Those masks were delivered to members of the ND community.
Alumni Family Gives Back to Healthcare Workers
Megan Murphy ‘88 O’Donnell started FLAG (Front Line Appreciation Group) in Hamilton, NJ after seeing other successful FLAG groups. Flannery O’Donnell ‘17, Megan’s daughter, also answered the call to help when she designed a website for her mom in less than 24 hours.
Set up through Facebook, FLAG allowed Megan to raise money each day through Zelle, Venmo, and PayPal, which was then used to pay local restaurants to order meals that were delivered to healthcare providers. The organization helped support local restaurants as well as show nurses, doctors, and other hospital employees the community’s appreciation and respect for all of their hard work.
FLAG of Hamilton raised over $25,000 and fed over 4,200 frontline heroes.
HEALTHCARE HEROES
Notre Dame High School is deeply grateful for our alumni who are on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic for making a true difference — the physicians, nurses, laboratory technicians, pharmacists, scientists, nursing home workers, hospital catering and housekeeping staff, police, and EMTs. These are their stories.
Laura McWilliam ’06 Carumba Nurse Anesthetist, NYU Langone
Health, New York, NY
I have been assisting with the COVID-19 response at NYU Langone Health in NYC. As a nurse anesthetist, I have expertise in airway management and ventilation. At the peak of the pandemic in NYC, I was sent to the COVID ICUs for three weeks to help in any way that I could. A large part of my role consisted of managing ventilators being used to do the work of breathing for coronavirus patients. I also assisted with positioning sedated and mechanically ventilated patients prone (laying on their belly) which helps with their breathing. As we were coming down from our peak, I returned to my usual location in the operating rooms and on the labor and delivery floor. Some of the patients I see in these locations have COVID-19. I provide them with anesthesia to get through their surgeries and/or labor and delivery. The pandemic has altered how we must provide anesthesia so as to minimize risk of disease transmission.
Jamie Chebra ’90
Executive Director of Mobile Health
Services, Robert Wood Johnson
Barnabas Health
As an administrator, we only started talking about COVID-19 and its potential as an epidemic in January, and by March I was working 18-20 hour days, in uniform assisting my staff in EMS in responding to 911 calls and sanitizing vehicles. We were in full gear — Tyvek suits, goggles, N95 masks. It was scary and the stress felt like 9/11 everyday, but I had the added risk of bringing home the disease to my family. This year, call volume in one week in March increased seven times over the same time in 2019. We went from six cardiac arrests to 46 in one week. We were as prepared as we could be, and luckily there was never a time that we did not have enough PPE. It’s an insidious disease that crept up on us, but you learn to rely on your connections and knowledge to help guide decision making. I even reached out to a fellow ND alumnus, Rob Hutchinson ’90, who works at FEMA. He was able to send us some additional ambulances from out-of-state. Now that things have slowed down a bit, I recognize that my staff and I are emotionally, physically and psychologically spent to say the least. We are trying to respond to this with assistance programs for first responders and peer-to-peer outreach. This has been a growth and learning experience for sure.
Kristyn Chiarello ’12 Registered Nurse, Penn Medicine at Princeton Medical Center, Princeton, NJ
Being on the frontline of this virus has taken both an emotional and physical toll. Each day welcomes a new challenge, lesson and experience. While many days prove to be a struggle as we navigate through uncharted waters, the healthcare system has joined together to fight this battle. I am grateful to offer a patient comfort in a time of pain. I find relief in providing reassurance to family members who are not able to be at the beside of their loved one. I am blessed to be able to hold a patient’s hand during their final breath. I am proud to be a nurse. This pandemic has helped to facilitate growth in my faith and work ethic — both as a nurse and as a person. Our work would not be possible without the support of doctors, respiratory therapists, ancillary staff and all other interdisciplinary teams within the healthcare system.
Clare Ann Gallucci ’88 Spadea Registered Nurse,
Penn Medicine at Princeton
Medical Center, Princeton, NJ
The year 2020 started off to be an amazing year for me. This past February, I celebrated my 50th birthday with my best friends from Notre Dame and had a blast. March came, and as we all know, the celebrations stopped. Schools, stores, restaurants, sporting events and much more came to a stand-still. Most of our country was forced to work from home and some lost their jobs. I work at Princeton Hospital as a nurse and since March 5th have been taking care of COVID-19 patients and continue to care for them during this pandemic. I remember my first day at work when I started to care for patients who had the COVID-19 virus. I was scared. I was terrified that I would catch the virus or worse give it to my family. It did not take long for me to block all of my fears out of my head and just take care of my patients the way I did before COVID-19 came into existence. Every day when I go to work and enter the hospital, I still worry about catching this horrible virus and passing it to my family, but once I start my shift and see how much my patients need me my fears go away. It breaks my heart to see my patients in the hospital not able to have their loved ones at their bedside while they are sick, or worse, when they are dying. Just yesterday, I had a patient tell me how sorry he was that I had to take care of him since he had COVID-19. I tried to hold back my tears under my goggles, face shield and mask as I explained how it was my pleasure to care for him and he should not feel bad at all. It is days like yesterday that remind me why I am a nurse. I have to admit that all the amazing support from our community is overwhelming and sometimes makes me feel guilty that I am being praised for working on the frontline, when all I am doing is my job. I work with an amazing group of nurses and I feel blessed that I am able to help make a difference. I pray that all of my fellow classmates are safe and healthy.
Anne Fitzpatrick ’76 Stevens
I am a nurse in a rehabilitation/senior care Catholic facility. I rely on the
St. Patrick's Breastplate prayer, "Christ beside me, before me, behind me, within me, beneath me, above me" as I start each shift. It makes me feel well protected during this challenging time.
Arlene Gutierrez ’85 Walsh, RN MSA Senior Vice President & Chief Administrative Officer Capital Health Medical Group, Hopewell, NJ
As a member of the senior management team at Capital Health, I feel blessed to work with so many dedicated professionals during these unprecedented times. Healthcare is a challenging business even during the best of times and for the foreseeable future, we are facing even more challenging circumstances due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is times like this that we see the true personality of our organization and the nature of what sets us apart from others. Our staff has been volunteering to work extra shifts and take on additional work since the day that our first COVID-19 patients were admitted and they are still doing so many weeks later. This public health emergency has affected every aspect of our daily lives. The impact on our healthcare system — including our hospitals and physician practices — is just as profound. Our frontline providers are now caring for a surge of critically ill patients and our biggest concern is to keep all of our healthcare workers safe. They are true heroes in my opinion and their tireless work and self-sacrifice show the best of humanity. Additionally, we are truly grateful for the support and generosity of our community. The encouraging signs lining hospital entrances bring a smile to my face every time I drive in here and the never-ending donations of food and PPE are greatly appreciated.
Chelsea Grama ’10 Hastry Internal Medicine and Pediatric Resident, DuPont Hospital, Wilmington, DE
and
Mike Hastry ’10 Physical Therapist
Since the pandemic began, we have dramatically changed scheduling and coverage in order to best staff the frontlines. Our primary focus is now on patient care, while the education and learning of residency takes a back seat. Although this situation is both mentally and physically taxing, this crisis has brought me and my colleagues closer. One of the most difficult and heartbreaking aspects is witnessing patients alone in the hospital. They are very scared, very sick and some are making end-of-life decisions without the support and comfort of family or friends. Often, we are their only human connection and our faces are completely covered. My prayers are with these patients and their families. Through all this, we remain positive and hopeful and are invigorated by the overwhelming expression of community support. continued on page 6
My husband, Michael Hastry ’10 is a physical therapist who is also working through this time and has adapted telemedicine and home health visits into his "new" routine in order to keep people as safe as possible. He is working with many patients who have had to postpone "elective" surgeries and are still in a lot of pain.
Reverend Karen Burke ’88 Lewis
Palliative Care Chaplain,
Chilton Medical Center,
Pompton Plains, NJ
I am primarily working in the ICU with the most critical COVID-19 patients. It has been a challenging time. The way I offer spiritual care has completely changed during the pandemic. I cannot offer direct support to my patients' families because they are not permitted inside the hospital. For our Catholic patients, I cannot find a way for the Sacrament of the Sick to be administered. The hospital is not allowing the priests in and neither is the diocese where I work; it is just too risky. I have gotten creative with FaceTime which is allowing families to “see” their loved one before they die. I am going into patients’ rooms with an iPad so that their families can talk to their loved one and say all the important things that need to be said at end of life. Family cannot be physically with our patients or touch them, but they are able to get a visual, talk, and participate in family prayers before death. I believe this will be an important ingredient for them to experience in order for them to process their grief down the road. I am working closely with a Catholic priest whom I FaceTime every day at noon. I run around the hospital with the iPad and we pray with all the Catholic patients and he offers the traditional prayers of absolution. Many of the doctors and nurses can hear and see this happening. It is a moving experience for all of us. Everyone involved feels grateful for the role of the chaplain, perhaps for the first time ever. Chaplains are caring for the most human and spiritual aspects of those suffering and we point to God’s presence and grace in the midst of this tragedy. I feel honored to be at the hospital during this time where I can be of service.
Michael H. Fitzpatrick, MD, FACEP ’84 Co-Chair, Department of Emergency Medicine, Geisinger Medical Center
In March everything changed. Regardless of age, profession, beliefs, background, or geographic location the COVID-19 pandemic touched all of us. We’ve lost the freedom to be with loved ones, to travel, to worship and to gather. Some of us have lost the opportunity to work. Some have lost loved ones and some were not able to say goodbye. I graduated from ND in 1984. We had a great class. I wished I’d stayed in touch with more of you. I had great teachers and friends, and we had First Friday Mass. When I went on to college and medical school, I took ND with me. ND is still with me when I go to work each day and I’m forever grateful. For those of us in healthcare everything changed in March as well. Even as elective surgeries were cancelled and our office practice dwindled, masks and PPE were distributed and we went out to do a different kind of work. I’ve worked in Emergency Medicine for the past 25 plus years and have had the privilege of working with a truly special group of people. The Emergency Medicine team includes doctors, advanced practitioners, nurses, technicians, environmental services, EMS personnel, social workers, spiritual care and many others who are ready to help “on your worst day.” Sadly, over the course of the past few months for too many of our patients and their families, this has been “their worst day.” Most of us who work in the Emergency Department are worried and some of us are flat-out scared. We’re afraid of getting COVID-19 or bringing it home to the ones we love. But honestly we’re also afraid of not being able to give our patients what they need, afraid of seeing way too many of our patients die. We’re used to death — but not like this. This is quantitatively and qualitatively different. It’s exhausting and heartbreaking. We realize that others have it far worse than we do (God bless you NY and all the other “hot spots”). We realize that this isn’t going to end this week or this month. We’re getting used to seeing our patients through glass doors, donning a PAPR hood or N95s, the hiss of negative pressure rooms, wearing a mask and goggles for 12 hours at a stretch, having raw hands from washing and we’re even getting used to working in “ER tents.” We’ll be there for those who need us because this is what we do.
God places us where He needs us and gives us what Rob Hutchinson ’90 we need. To paraphrase St. Mother Teresa, “Every day Response Operations Liaison I (we) see Jesus in all his distressing disguises.” In FEMA Integration Team (NJ) March, that’s one thing that COVID-19 couldn’t change. Ewing, NJ Please keep those who work in the Emergency I was assigned as the FEMA Departments, EMS, Intensive Care Units and all on Planning Section Chief for the the hospital floors in your prayers. All the best to my federal response to COVID-19 classmates — the Class of ’84, and to all the ND alums in the State of New Jersey. I work with back in NJ and across the country. the New Jersey Department of Health to Morgan Fink, PA-C ’12 community-based testing sites in Bergen and Emergency Room Physician Assistant Monmouth counties as well as with state and federal Newark Beth Israel Hospital, response staff at the New Jersey Emergency Operations Newark, NJ Center (EOC) to develop daily Incident Action Plans In the past two years that I have which outline work assignments and tasks for the Field been working, I have seen a variety Medical Stations, externally sourced EMS units, and other of interesting and challenging cases. State and Federal COVID-related response activities. Working in the Emergency Room The COVID-19 response poses unique challengesitself comes with its own difficulties, given the need to practice social distancing, wear such as working nights and weekends, masks, and limit face-to-face interactions to mitigate long hours and unpredictable cases. However, the potential exposure. My co-workers and I even worked COVID-19 pandemic has been like nothing any of us from two of FEMA’s Mobile Communication Office have ever experienced. Vehicles (MCOV’s) to enhance mitigation efforts and One of the greatest challenges that I have encountered social distancing at the EOC. has been the fear that I will be exposed to the virus at For a period in April, I was going on over 40 straight work; or even worse, that I could unknowingly spread days at the EOC. I have worked for FEMA for nearlyit to my family and friends. Although we have been 15 years and have had long deployments all over the fortunate so far, there is a nationwide shortage of PPE country, so this was nothing new. My first assignment and it is uncertain how long our already dwindling was to Hurricane Katrina, which was less than two supplies will last. Additionally, it’s been incredibly weeks after I started working for FEMA — thisdisheartening to witness first-hand the significant mortality assignment lasted for over 100 days. I also responded of this disease and the rapid clinical decline of patients. to hurricanes and other disasters including Typhoon But through all of the hardship and struggles of our Dolphin in Guam, Hurricanes Irma and Maria in current situation, the tremendous outpouring of support Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, and the recent and love from the community has been incredible to earthquakes in Ponce, Puerto Rico. witness. I am in awe of the people who have sent endless amounts of supplies, meals, cards and messages of encouragement. Perhaps the most inspiring part of the last few weeks has been how such tragedy and We extend heartfelt thanks to each and uncertainty has brought our healthcare community together. Each one of my colleagues, including every one of our alumni healthcare heroes physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses, ER techs, registration workers, and housekeeping staff, who continue to give tirelessly and at risk of has shown an unbelievable amount of fortitude and solidarity in facing this virus each day. their own safety to support our community. Being on the frontline of a global pandemic was not something that I anticipated or prepared for during the We are forever grateful and very proud. first few years of my career, but it has truly reiterated plan for the operation of federally-supported why I entered the healthcare field in the first place. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to do what I do and to have a small role in the fight against this disease. YourNotre Dame Family
