North Carolina Community Colleges Helping During COVID-19

North Carolina -- North Carolina Community Colleges COVID-19 Response --

The 58 colleges of the NC Community College System continue their mission to provide high-quality, accessible educational opportunities for hundreds of thousands of people across the state. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the colleges have transitioned to online and alternate delivery of education for the near future. Face-to-face instruction has been paused for all classes except certain public safety and public health programs that are critical to North Carolina's current emergency needs.

Here, you will find the latest information about the colleges' response to COVID-19, as well as answers to frequently asked questions for faculty, students and colleges. Students will find resources for online learning, free internet services and other support.

https://www.nccommunitycolleges.edu/covid-19-response

For Students in need https://www.nccommunitycolleges.edu/students-need

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Community colleges donate medical supplies, install community WiFi, help small businesses survive COVID-19 pandemic

Thursday, April 2, 2020 - 2:31pm
RALEIGH, N.C. - Community colleges across North Carolina have stepped up to help their communities and the state during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In an unprecedented mobilization, colleges have donated ventilators and tens of thousands of pieces of personal protective equipment to local hospitals, EMS agencies and nursing homes. They have held supply drives, installed community WiFi in their parking lots and helped with efforts to feed schoolchildren and unemployed restaurant workers. Blue Ridge Community College served as a drive-thru COVID-19 testing site.

The colleges' Small Business Center Network is helping local businesses stay afloat. Through webinars and one-on-one counseling, the centers have advised business owners on filing loan applications, negotiating with creditors, pursuing sources of support and handling marketing, online sales and supply chain management. The centers quickly moved their programs online to serve businesses struggling during the pandemic.
 

"Community colleges are living up their name during this difficult time for North Carolina," said NC Community College System President Peter Hans. "We continue to deliver high-quality online instruction to our students and prepare our front-line health care and first responder workforce. But we are also serving our local communities, businesses and the state in so many other ways."

Doctors, nurses and health care workers in North Carolina will be better equipped to handle a surge of COVID-19 patients with donated protective gear. Community colleges have gathered their supplies on hand from nursing, health care and EMS programs to give to local hospitals and other facilities. The donations include gloves, face shields, gowns, medical-grade sanitizers and much-needed N95 respirators and surgical masks.
 

Stanly Community College in Albemarle donated four ventilators to Atrium Health Stanly, as well as personal protective equipment.
 

"We appreciate the great working relationship that Atrium Health Stanly has with Stanly Community College and feel very blessed to be able to donate the ventilators and other medical supplies," said John Enamait, president of the college. "We want to help our community, patients, and our Health Science graduates who are working to help battle COVID-19, to stay safe and healthy. It's going to take everyone to do their part to help fight this disease."
 

Besides contributing supplies, colleges are facilitating the vast shift to online learning. Robeson Community College created "The Learning Lot," a drive-in WiFi area at the college, open to students and the public Monday-Saturday. The free WiFi lot is monitored by campus security.
 

Many colleges are serving the needs of the newly unemployed, offering low-cost, short-term online courses for those who need to retool for future jobs. South Piedmont Community College developed a series of short courses specifically for those affected by COVID-19. The $5 courses include how to homeschool children in math, how to update a resume and how to upgrade computer skills.
 

"North Carolina will have a long road ahead and community colleges will be key to the recovery," Hans said.
 

To see a list of how community colleges are helping, go to https://www.nccommunitycolleges.edu/news-center/news/how-community-colleges-are-helping-during-covid-19-pandemic-list
 

North Carolina's 58 community colleges serve about 700,000 students a year in college-transfer programs, short-term workforce training, high school dual enrollment, career and technical education and adult basic education.

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How community colleges are helping during COVID-19 pandemic (list)

Thursday, April 2, 2020 - 1:43pm
HOW COMMUNITY COLLEGES ARE HELPING DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC (updated 4/6/20)

Small Business Centers – The North Carolina Community Colleges Small Business Center Network (SBCN) will provide assistance with SBA disaster loan applications and other sources of funding, review of financial obligations and discussions with creditors, strategies for scaling operations and generating revenue, and referrals to additional sources of assistance. Webinars on timely business topics to help sustain small businesses, as well as robust resources related to the COVID-19 pandemic, are also available at NC SBCN COVID-19 Resources

Alamance Community College - Donated N95 masks, gloves, goggles, medical-grade swabs, shoe covers, head caps and isolation gowns to Alamance County agencies, as well as 300 surgical masks to Alamance County Department of Social Services and 50 face shields and 100 gowns to Peak Resources Alamance Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center.

Asheville-Buncombe Technical College – EMS instructors created a 12-minute video on COVID-19 prevention for first responders. Video is here. Various departments donated personal protective equipment to Buncombe County and Madison County emergency management: 700 gowns and 300 masks from Emergency Services Department; 20,000 gloves, 150 gowns and 300 surgical masks from Nursing Assistant program; 200 masks, 50 containers of hand sanitizers and wipes from Cosmetology and computer labs; more than 100 disposable coveralls from the Craft Beverage Institute of the Southeast. AB-Tech BioNetwork team donated PPE - coveralls, masks, face shields, shoe covers, 8,600 gloves.

Bladen Community College - Donated PPE to Bladen County Hospital and Bladen Emergency Services, including masks, goggles, isolation gowns, surgical caps, shoe covers, hand sanitizer, gloves and temp probe covers.

Blue Ridge Community College – College parking lot has been used as a drive-thru COVID-19 testing site for Pardee UNC Health. The college’s Emergency Medical Science, Nursing, Nurse Aide and Surgical Technology programs donated a large amount of medical supplies to Pardee UNC Health Care and Advent Health Asheville, as well as first responder agencies.

Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute – Donated masks, gowns and shoe covers to Caldwell Hospice and Palliative Care. Using 3-D printers, faculty and staff are making plastic face shields to donate. Hosted a blood drive March 27 in the college’s gym to allow for appropriate social distancing. Loaning 75 Chromebooks donated by Google for college students to access online education.

Cape Fear Community College – Donated about $4,400 worth of PPE, including 300 boxes of gloves, 20 boxes of masks, 95 N95 masks, 20 bottles of disinfectant spray, 12 tubs of medical-grade disinfectant wipes and 35 isolation gowns.

Central Carolina Community College - Donated supplies to area community health care providers. Supplies were given to Central Carolina Hospital, Chatham Hospital UNC Health Care, FirstHealth of the Carolinas, Harnett Health, tlc of Sanford, and Transitions Life Care. Donations included hand sanitizer, anti-bacterial soap, disinfectant wipes, masks, gloves, gowns, face shields, safety goggles and shoe covers.

Central Piedmont Community College – Donated medical supplies from health care programs to Atrium Health and Novant Health in Mecklenburg County. WTVI-PBS Charlotte is broadcasting four hours of educational programming daily tied to both NC and SC state standards, with online lesson plans and more than 100,000 digital resources for teachers, caregivers and students. Central Piedmont’s hospitality education program joined with Sysco Foods and Piedmont Culinary Guild to package and deliver 500 boxes of food to local restaurant employees who have lost wages during the pandemic.

Cleveland Community College – Set up WiFi hot spots in the college parking lot and collaborated with Cleveland County Schools to help set up hot spots in parking lots at public schools. Hot spots are available seven days a week, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. The college has donated PPE, including masks, N95 face respirators, coveralls, gowns, faceshields with respirators, gloves, foot covers, head covers and gloves. So far, items have been donated to the local hospital, area police departments and Cleveland County Emergency Management.

College of the Albemarle – The college donated PPE to Outer Banks Hospital, Sentara Albemarle Medical Center and Vidant Chowan Hospital. The supplies included 275 boxes of gloves, 1,670 masks (including 150 vital N95 masks), 950 isolation gowns and hundreds of shoe and head coverings, face shields and other protective gear. The supplies came from a number of departments at the college’s four locations.

Durham Technical Community College – Donated PPE and supplies to UNC Health and Duke Health, including gowns, masks, protective eyewear, gloves and hand sanitizer, amounting to 3,000 individual supplies. The supplies came from a variety of departments, including anesthesia technology, nursing, medical assisting, nurse aid, occupational therapy assistant, pharmacy technology, respiratory therapy and surgical technology.

Edgecombe Community College – Donated gloves, gowns and masks to Vidant Edgecombe Hospital in Tarboro, Nash UNC Health Care in Rocky Mount and Edgecombe County.

Fayetteville Technical Community College - Loaned four ventilators and donated thousands of pieces of personal protective equipment to Cape Fear Valley Health, including face shields, N-95 masks, surgical masks, gloves, isolation gowns, aprons, lab jackets, head covers, as well as disinfectant and hand sanitizer. The college also donated hundreds of masks and gloves to the NC State Veterans Home.

Forsyth Technical Community College – Started "Forsyth Tech Cares,” a college-wide initiative to help students and staff make it through the crisis. A task force of staff and faculty, especially those who cannot telework in their current jobs, will become student advocates to help them connect with services.

Halifax Community College – Nursing Department donated four packs of isolation gowns, 25 masks with face shields and 40 face masks to Vidant North. The college’s Dental Hygiene Department donated masks and gloves to the college’s Learning Resource Center to protect students who need to access online resources there.

Haywood Community College – HCC High Tech Center will be used as a large command post for Haywood County Emergency Management.

James Sprunt Community College – Donated 2000 masks to Vidant Duplin. The college has also agreed to provide space for child care for Vidant Duplin personnel if necessary.

Mitchell Community College – Public Safety and Health Sciences departments donated 525 N95 masks to Iredell County Emergency Management and are working with local hospitals to donate other PPE. Mitchell’s Foundation is providing a $150 laptop grant supplement for students who need a device to complete online coursework.

Montgomery Community College – Donated cases of gloves, masks and gowns to First Health and Autumn Care nursing home.

Nash Community College – Donated isolation gowns, gloves, masks, eye shields, hair caps and sanitizing wipes from its programs in medical assisting, physical therapist assistant, nursing and veterinary medical technology. The donations went to Nash UNC Health Care and Nash County Emergency Services.

Piedmont Community College – Donating boxes of gloves and gowns to Piedmont Health Services, Inc.

Pitt Community College BioNetwork – Donated PPE and supplies, including 500 surgical masks, 1,500 pairs of gloves, gowning supplies and disposable lab coats.

Roanoke-Chowan Community College - Nursing, megatronics, and EMS departments donated gloves, N95 masks and gowns to Vidant.  

Robeson Community College – Created “The Learning Lot,” a drive-in WiFi area at the college, open to students and the public, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mon-Thurs, and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fri-Sat. The lot is monitored by campus security and social distancing measures must be followed.

Rowan-Cabarrus Community College – Donated medical masks, gloves and other PPE to Atrium Health, Novant Health and the W.G. “Bill” Hefner VA Medical Center.

South Piedmont Community College – Developed a series of fully online short-term courses specifically for those affected by COVID-19. For a $5 registration fee, the public can sign up for classes in homeschooling (including algebra review), strategies and retooling for the underemployed, updating resumes, Adobe Photoshop, Office Software Applications, etc. Other courses provide personal growth opportunities in art, home repair, Spanish, personal finance.

Southeastern Community College - Donated PPE, including masks, gloves and gowns to Columbus County Emergency Services and Columbus County Regional Healthcare System.

Southwestern Community College – Nursing program donated a large box of supplies to Harris Regional Hospital, including gowns, face masks and N95 masks. The college offered WiFi in its parking lots and held a curbside pickup of pre-packaged bags of breakfast, lunch and dinner for students.

Stanly Community College – Donated four ventilators and other PPE and medical supplies to Atrium Health Stanly.

Surry Community College – Donated gloves, gowns and masks to Northern Regional Hospital in Mount Airy and Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital in Elkin.

Tri-County Community College – Part of campus serves as coordination point for local health department regarding testing sites.

Vance-Granville Community College – Donated 1,000 gloves, 15 gowns and 10 masks to Mariah Parham Medical Center and Granville Medical Center.

Wake Technical Community College – Loaned portable ventilator from its EMS program to WakeMed. Donated PPE, including 74,000 gloves, 3,000 masks and hundreds of bottles of hand sanitizer from several programs, including nursing, dental hygiene, emergency medical science, as well as criminal justice, skilled trades, fine arts and the BioNetwork Capstone Center. The supplies were donated to Wake Med, Duke University Hospital, UNC Rex Healthcare and Transitions Life Care. Also included were lab coats and gowns, goggles, ethanol, visors, N95 masks and applicators. Supplies also went to Wake County EMS, Wake County Human Services and Glenaire Retirement Community.

Wayne Community College – Purchased billboard with public service announcement about social distancing. The college also hosted a drive-thru supply drive March 23-28, where people could donate hand sanitizer, gloves, masks and other health supplies.

Western Piedmont Community College – Provided one emergency ventilator to the Burke County Emergency Management, as well as PPE, including: 6,000 pairs of gloves, 200 surgical masks, 25 face shields, 80 isolation gowns and 10 full PPE kits. WPCC’s director for occupational extension programs will manage logistics as needed for any Burke County Emergency Management mobilization as part of his official college duties.

Wilkes Community College - Loaned six ventilators - two each to hospitals in Wilkes, Ashe and Alleghany counties. Applied engineering faculty are making face shields to donate to Ashe Memorial Hospital, doctors offices and Watauga Medical Center.

Wilson Community College - Donated 350 surgical masks and 300 gowns to Wilson Fire/Rescue Services. The College also donated 2,940 masks to the Wilson County Health Department, which included 1,440 N95 masks and 1,500 procedural masks.