Stuck at home, medical students found a way to help health care workers on the COVID-19 front lines

Frustration brews among medical school students throughout Georgia. They’re all supposed to be in hospitals to lend a helping hand to doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals while soaking in plenty of knowledge. The medical field is the future livelihood for these students, but the COVID-19 pandemic has eliminated those vital experiences.

From each corner of the state, these students are stuck in their homes only to watch the number of cases and deaths soar across the state. Anita Qualls, a recent graduate of the University of Georgia, got tired of sitting still and needed to start her own initiative. If she couldn’t be on the hospital grounds, she felt determined to find a way to support those who are.

Fortunately, all of Qualls’ close friends are all medical or pre-med students. Their desires and ambitions match seamlessly. Early this month, Qualls gathered a team to launch the efforts and “Feed the Frontlines” was born within a matter of a few hours. A clear mission, logo, social media accounts, coordinators for cities across Georgia and a GoFundMe page came together in short order.

“I felt helpless,” said Qualls, who should be in England finishing master’s research before attending the University of California - San Francisco in August. “I want to help these Georgia communities in some way.”

Four days after the launch, deliveries were made to major hospitals around metro Atlanta (numerous Emory campuses and Grady Memorial Hospital were a few to start). Suddenly, Piedmont Athens Regional hospital became a destination for food deliveries and the reach began to spread. Qualls’ ultimate goal was to send these meals to smaller, rural areas in Georgia that are heavily impacted by the coronavirus but might not have all of the needed resources.

Middle Georgia quickly became a target area. Adrianne Smith, a Mercer University medical student, quickly hopped on board and originally tried to connect with Navicent Health, which already had logistics in place. So Smith shifted toward Coliseum Hospitals and found a need at the Coliseum Northside Hospital.

The first delivery to the network’s smaller campus came on April 10, and Smith plans to deliver one set of 40 meals per week (in two shifts) to the hospital. Feed the Frontlines teamed up with Piedmont Brewery, then followed it by gifting a team of healthcare workers with meals from Fresh Air Bar-B-Que.

“These are unprecedented times,” said Wayne Thompson, Coliseum’s director of nursing administration and health informatics, in a brief interview with The Telegraph. “These acts of kindness and support lift us up and add much-needed comfort during these difficult times.”

Much of the money came from a “Med School Mania” fundraising competition. Six schools engaged in the competition — Emory, Medical College of Georgia, Mercer, Morehouse and the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (Atlanta campus) — and Mercer has raised $3,761 as of last Sunday for a total of 317 donations and $11,083 raised between all competitors.

Along with the GoFundMe efforts, Feed the Frontlines has donated 830 meals to hospitals and raised over $25,000 in total funds. The organization’s reach expands each day, and Smith has been in contact with other Middle Georgia hospitals in surrounding areas — Fairview Park in Dublin and Houston Medical Center in Warner Robins.

Some of Smith’s peers, unrelated to the organization, have also offered to help medical professionals with babysitting, making masks for local emergency rooms and fundraising for personal protective equipment (PPE) in Savannah.

“I miss being in the hospital. It’s nice to know that I can still help people out locally and nationally,” Smith said. “Some of these (medical professionals) aren’t supposed to leave during their shift. They can’t go to the cafeteria at the risk of contaminating people, and that’s when I realized the food donations were so helpful. They’ve got a hot, delicious meal during these times of stress.”

Expanding reach across Georgia

The organization has served a number of cities including Augusta, Savannah, Statesboro, Valdosta, Lakeland, Nashville and others. South Georgia has become a targeted area with deliveries made to South Georgia Medical Center locations in Berrien and Valdosta.

As of April 29, there are more than 25,000 cases of COVID-19 in Georgia and over 1,000 deaths. The counties with the highest number of cases, Fulton and Dougherty, continue to be served by Feed the Frontlines.

Qualls has the capability to expand the hospitals reached as funding increases. There are plans to deliver to Toccoa, Rome and Gainesville. A coordinator was recently assigned to the Chattahoochee Valley and deliveries were made to St. Francis Hospital and Piedmont Columbus Regional Hospital. Those deliveries were made by Wild Wing Cafe.

The Feed the Frontlines initiative has made plenty of progress in its infancy. As long as fundraising continues, the team of local medical students are determined to make an impact.

It almost feels like working on the hospital floor again. At least in some capacity.

“Georgia is behind in a lot of efforts,” Qualls said. “I feel like individuals can make a difference. This is one small effort.”

If you’d like to donate to Feed the Frontlines, it can be done on its GoFundMe page. The organization also accepts Venmo submissions @FTFga. Feed the Frontlines can be followed on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.