);
Connect with us

Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Signs for the Frontlines: Wesleyan student leads effort to honor healthcare workers

Published

on

Northside Hospital employees Bethanie Dailey (left) and Renee White (right) stand with Wesleyan School junior Carson Schiller, who launched the “Signs for the Frontlines” project for the hospital. (Kristin Schiller)

As COVID-19 began changing life as Americans knew it, Carson Schiller felt the need to act.
The Wesleyan School junior thought about the Northside Hospital nurse who’s a longtime family friend and wanted to support her and other healthcare workers bearing the brunt of battling the global pandemic. She also wanted to help bring her Peachtree Corners community together during a time of uncertainty and to connect her fellow students who’d been separated by online schooling.

From those thoughts sprang a project — “Signs for the Frontlines.”

Since May 5, the road Northside Hospital employees take to their parking area has been lined with 250 plastic signs on stakes. They display Wesleyan students’ messages of inspiration, motivation and gratitude.

“The whole idea behind it was that as they’re driving in, they would see that motivation on the signs and that would really push them through those front doors to keep on doing what they’re doing,” Schiller said.

All students in grades K-12 at her Christian private school were invited to participate with an email Schiller sent in mid-April. Some of the signs display Biblical passages. One features a T-shirt with a Superman-style “S” and the message, “Superheroes in scrubs.”

Along with a “We love you” and a spray of hearts, Schiller’s own sign features her favorite quote, from Mahatma Gandhi: “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”

She said her design was inspired by thinking about how healthcare workers are changing the world. Meanwhile, her project has left a mark on the world of its own.

‘Encouragement and Hope’
Bethanie Dailey, Pre-Op Manager at Northside Hospital and Peachtree Corners resident, helped Schiller coordinate logistics with the hospital. She said Signs for the Frontlines is a source of daily inspiration for hospital employees.

“Carson’s idea has given encouragement and hope to everyone at the Northside Atlanta campus as we continue to face the daily challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is truly a group effort as we all face this pandemic together,” said Dailey. “Northside Hospital sincerely appreciates Carson and the smiles she and her classmates’ signs provide us every day as we travel Northside’s campus!”

Northside Hospital Pre-Op
nurse Renee White, part of the inspi-
ration for “Signs for the Frontlines,”
takes a selfie with some of her co-
workers. Behind White, from left, are
LaSonja Holloman, Susannah
Stephenson and Betty Eades.
(Renee White)

Schiller was connected with Dailey by Renee White, the family friend who inspired her project. White and her husband Tracy are longtime Peachtree Corners residents who lived across the street from the Schillers in Wellington for many years until the Schillers moved to Riverview.
White is also a Pre-Op nurse who has worked at Northside Hospital for 25 years. She’s known Carson Schiller since she was born and praised her perseverance and care for others.

“Working at this time, there are just so many changes as they’re learning more about [COVID-19]. … Every time we go into work it seems like there’s a change in a policy or a procedure or how we’re supposed to do something,” White said. “It’s also stressful and a little bit emotional because … we always incorporate the family with the patient. Now, families can’t be there with the patient.”
She looks forward to seeing the students’ signs every time she passes them.

“It’s so nice when you’re arriving and when you’re leaving to see how many people are praying for us and thinking about us and took time to make those little signs,” she said. “And there’s just so many of them! You just see their little personalities, from the younger ones who drew the little stick figures and then there are the ones that are just so impressive, that are just very artistic.”

Getting It Done
After her project was approved by her school, Schiller was connected with Wesleyan’s Dean of Student Life, Mary Stephenson. Stephenson said she was grateful for the opportunity to help but said Schiller deserves “100 percent of the credit.”

“From the initial idea to the follow-through of actually putting the signs up, Carson showed tremendous initiative and gumption to turn her vision into a reality,” Stephenson said. “I’m very proud of her and grateful to have been a part of it!”

Schiller worked with Stephenson and fine arts teachers Meagan Brooker and Heather Niemann to spread the word to all of Wesleyan’s students. Niemann helped her learn to convert the students’ designs into formats that would work for Global Signs, the company that donated the signs.

Wesleyan parent Gregg Stopher, owner of Global Signs, is a longtime resident of Peachtree Corners, with his wife, Flora, and sons, Trust, 12, and Greyson, 9, who participated in the sign project.
“When I saw [Schiller’s] email, I thought, here is a teenager who felt compelled to ‘do something … anything’ to contribute in a positive way to this crazy period of time we are experiencing,” Stopher said. “Great project initiated and executed by a fine young lady. Just thankful that we were in a position to help!”

Wesleyan students Trust
Stopher, 12, and Greyson Stopher, 9,
submitted artwork for “Signs for the
Frontlines.” Their father, Gregg
Stopher, owns Global Signs, which
donated the signs. (Nicole Bertram)

The signs were placed at the hospital on May 5 by a small team including Schiller and her parents, Derek and Kristin Schiller; Wesleyan’s Stephenson; and Northside’s White and Dailey.

“As I was putting them up, a lot of the nurses and doctors and scientists were actually going on their lunch break … and it was just such a cool experience when they rolled down their windows and would just be so grateful for us distributing these signs,” Schiller said.

She thinks Signs of the Frontlines has changed her outlook on life by showing her what can happen when you work hard for something. “If I have an idea in my head, I can spark it into a fire, and I can get it done,” she said.

“I’m just so grateful to have such an amazing community like Wesleyan to back me up on this idea. We executed it together as one community and as the community of Peachtree Corners,” she said. “And I just am so grateful for everyone who helped me along the way, for all the students who submitted (artwork), because this wouldn’t have happened without them, and the ability to show our appreciation to the hospital as a school was really amazing.”

Schiller encourages Peachtree Corners residents to show appreciation for healthcare workers in their own ways.

As Georgia reopens, “We have to continue to thank those who have risked their lives and are allowing things to open up,” she said.

Living the JOY
Jennifer Copeland, Wesleyan’s Assistant Head of School for External Affairs, said Schiller did a “phenomenal job of uniting our community, organizing the entire project, and thinking through every detail. She even coordinated with the operations team at Northside Hospital for when the grass was cut to find the optimal time to put out yard signs!” Copeland said.

“At Wesleyan, our school motto is JOY – Jesus, Others, Yourselves. It is so special when we see students living out this concept of putting others ahead of themselves. Carson thought of others — and in this case those were frontline workers putting their patients ahead of themselves,” Copeland said. “We are proud of Carson and all of our students who are using this unusual time to think of how they can support others.”

Kristen Schiller is proud of what her daughter accomplished. What probably impressed her the most, she said, was Carson’s “attention to detail, her leadership and communication skills, but most of all her compassion to bridge her school and Northside during this unprecedented time.”

“I think because of Carson’s Signs for the Frontlines project, it gave everyone who participated an opportunity to feel like they helped in some way,” she said. “Hopefully, years from now, the Wesleyan students will reflect and remember that they brightened the Northside Hospital Campus and brought smiles to the faces of its staff.” ■

Continue Reading

Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Paul Duke STEM High School PTSA Awarded Grant to Continue COVID-19 Relief Efforts

Published

on

mathnasium of berkely lake grant to paul duke hs
National PTA has awarded Paul Duke STEM High School PTSA with a $2,500 grant to continue their efforts to meet critical needs of students. Photo provided by Tina Budnitz, Paul Duke STEM PTSA

National PTA has awarded Paul Duke STEM High School PTSA with a $2,500 grant to continue their efforts to meet critical needs of students, families and teachers in their school community due to COVID-19. The funding is made possible by PTA Proud National Sponsor Mathnasium. The funding is in addition to the $5,000 grant National PTA awarded to Paul Duke STEM PTSA in 2020 to empower their COVID-19 relief efforts.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is not over, and National PTA and PTAs nationwide remain committed to making sure students, families, teachers and schools have what they need during this challenging time,” said Leslie Boggs, president of National PTA. “Paul Duke STEM PTSA has been working hard every day to provide essential resources, tools and information to support families and educators amid the pandemic. With the grant, Paul Duke STEM PTSA will be able to continue to provide critical support to their school community.”

 “This year presented many disruptions for students and teachers” Principal Jonathon Wetherington explained.  “Some of our students are learning from home, and some at school.  Our traditional lessons where students work closely in lab spaces on shared equipment could not work during the COVID outbreak.  We are grateful to National PTA and Mathnasium for their support to help us engage our students in new and innovative ways and keep our school community connected”.

The grants enabled our Engineering Department to expand the Maker Space and mentor students through several unique hands-on educational experiences.  The science department created and distributed over 600 at-home science experiment kits. Our care team was able to provide assistance to students whose families were experiencing extreme financial hardships.  The continuation funds will allow us to host Saturday intervention session for students, support our teachers to share innovations in distance learning techniques, and add to our outdoor classroom.   

Paul Duke STEM PTSA’s grants are part of over $1.5M in funding that National PTA has provided to PTAs across the country for COVID-19 relief efforts.

“With the grant funding, PTAs will be able to continue their important and impactful work,” added Nathan R. Monell, CAE, National PTA executive director. “We are grateful to our sponsors, including Mathnasium, for enabling us to provide resources to PTAs to help them care for their school communities.” 

In addition to these COVID-19 relief grants, Mathnasium also supports PTAs nationwide with programming intended to increase families’ enthusiasm and confidence in math. Mathnasium is a founding sponsor of National PTA’s STEM + Families initiative.  Mathnasium of Berkeley Lake is a long-time partner and supporter of schools in the Paul Duke STEM cluster. 

Source: Paul Duke Stem HS Press Release

Continue Reading

Coronavirus (COVID-19)

GeneCure Biotechnologies launches first-in-human therapeutic vaccine to treat Covid-19 patients

Published

on

GeneCure Biotechnologies, a clinical stage biotechnology company located in Peachtree Corners and developing novel human vaccines based on its patented SimVec platform technology, announced August 10 that it has launched a therapeutic vaccine program for Covid-19 infection.

The outbreak of Covid-19 has spread to 5 continents and caused near 20 millions confirmed cases. Recent clinical evidences suggest SARS-COV-2 may have a long incubation period and infected individuals may take several weeks to develop symptoms or disease. After infecting with Covid-19, the majority of individuals develop mild symptoms, yet some still transmit virus to others even without clinical symptoms. The treatment option for patients with mild or no clinical symptoms is very limited at this time. This situation becomes a serious public health issue — community transmission.

Dr. Tung, CEO, stated “Traditional vaccines are given to healthy people to prevent infection. However, a therapeutic vaccine is given to infected or uninfected high-risk people to prevent disease and infection. A therapeutic vaccine aims to prevent severe complications of an infection by reinforcing or broadening defenses when specific immune responses are unable to do so during the natural course of the disease and when a conventional antiviral therapy is not sufficient.” 

GeneCure’s therapeutic Covid-19 vaccine is based on the SimVec platform which has been utilized for therapeutic vaccines for HIV and HCV. The SimVec delivery platform elicits rapid and strong cell-mediated immune responses, which play critical roles in eliminating viral infected cells. Pre-clinical and clinical studies have shown that the therapeutic HIV vaccine was well tolerated and effective in boosting cell-mediated immunity in HIV infected patients. Durable control of viral load was seen after a 12-week treatment interruption in vaccinated participants. Furthermore, the markers of systemic immune activation/inflammation were also significantly reduced in vaccinated patients.

Dr. Tung also stated “We believe that an effective therapeutic vaccine will prevent disease progression in infected persons and reduce viral transmission which will not only be critical for people at risk for Covid-19 infection but also alleviate the excessive burden on our healthcare system.” 

Source

Press release from Genecure Biotechnologies.

Continue Reading

Business

City of Peachtree Corners to celebrate safety-conscious businesses

Published

on

The City of Peachtree Corners is preparing a list of all local businesses practicing the safety measures recommended by the Centers for Disease Control. Those businesses taking steps to keep citizens healthy will be published on the city website, in the Shop and Dine app, and in the monthly business newsletter as part of the city’s “Stay Healthy” campaign.

The Stay Healthy campaign is getting creative in its approach to public service announcements related to Covid19. The city is working to promote staying healthy through the use of comic book superheroes and popular TV show characters. In the coming weeks, expect to see banners, signs, posters and billboards, as well as social media posts spreading the message to wash hands frequently, wear face coverings, and practice social distancing.

Take part in the campaign! If you operate a safe business, let Jennifer Howard from the city office know so it can be added to the list of safety-conscious businesses in the city. Let the community know what steps you are taking to keep your business, patrons, and employees healthy.

Source:

Jennifer Howard, Economic Development Manager- City of Peachtree Corners

Email all entries to jhoward@peachtreecornersga.gov

Continue Reading

Read the Digital Edition

Subscribe

Peachtree Corners Life

Topics and Categories

Trending

Copyright © 2024 Mighty Rockets LLC, powered by WordPress.

Get Weekly Updates!

Get Weekly Updates!

Don't miss out on the latest news, updates, and stories about Peachtree Corners.

Check out our podcasts: Peachtree Corners Life, Capitalist Sage and the Ed Hour

You have Successfully Subscribed!