Two weeks separated the declaration of the COVID-19 national emergency and the first major countermeasure from Rutgers Health, although this biomedical education, research and health care institution had begun preparing the university for what was coming many weeks before.
Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (NJMS) announced that it would expedite graduation for its 192 final-year students so they could begin treating patients sooner. Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS), the Rutgers School of Nursing and the Rutgers School of Health Professions announced similar plans shortly thereafter.
Those decisions — which sped many hundreds of caregivers to hospitals and clinics just as surging caseloads threatened to overwhelm the system — illustrated how scale helped Rutgers Health significantly impact the fight against COVID-19. More illustrations quickly followed. To read the full story.