Dear Students & Colleagues,
I am pleased to announce that the college has formalized a partnership with Baptist Memorial Health Care to provide comprehensive COVID-19 healthcare services to our campus community. This partnership will allow us to plan and make critical decisions for the fall semester with the best medical expertise available. Our policies and procedures related to returning to campus, prevention, masking, distancing, monitoring, testing, and tracing will be guided by the experts at Baptist. Additionally, the Baptist team will make recommendations about personal protective equipment (PPE) needs for our community and ensure Rhodes has access to a reliable supply of necessary PPE. It also means that we can respond in real time to changing health conditions. And, most importantly, our community will have access to Baptist’s network of doctors, providers and healthcare expertise and facilities. Services include a 24/7 resource center staffed by medical professionals who can offer guidance and answer questions, a virtual Rhodes COVID clinic to monitor symptoms and provide support for members of our community who fall ill, and medical professionals available to make campus house calls to provide care when needed.
You can read more about the partnership on our website.
We are engaged in intensive planning with our healthcare partners for our intended return to campus in August. We will report back to you with more details about our return to campus plans on July 8th.
We continue to closely monitor the public health conditions here in Memphis. As COVID-19 cases have continued to rise over the last two weeks, the city and county have opted to remain in Phase II of their “Back to Business” plan.
I strongly encourage each of you to practice social distancing, handwashing, and the use of face coverings. Public health leaders and scientists tell us this is about best defense against the disease. Each of us will need to be committed to this in order to have a successful return to campus and the classroom.
Sincerely,
Marjorie