Fear of COVID-19 as an Immunocompromised RA

A Saint Joseph’s University senior shares her experience of living on campus as a Resident Assistant, while also being immunocompromised, during the COVID-19 pandemic. She discusses her worries, loneliness, and added responsibilities while trying to keep herself safe and mentally well. 

Start Talking SJU is a social media impact campaign that encourages members of the Saint Joseph’s University community to engage each other by discussing difficult, yet important topics, that are vital for a healthy, open, inclusive campus. Our current topic is Living in Fear, Striving for Hope.

More videos like this one on the topic of Living in Fear, Striking for Hope in 2020 can be found at http://livinginfear.starttalkingsju.com. You can also see our prior campaigns: Attacked (http://attacked.starttalkingsju.com), Belonging (http://belonging.starttalking.com), and Mental Health (http://mentalhealth.starttalking.com).

This video was co-created with the person depicted and/or represented in a story read by another. All persons reviewed and signed consent forms granting permission to share this story online. 

If you are experiencing any personal or social effects due to fear on or off campus, the university has resources that can help, including:

The Office of Student Outreach and Support (https://sites.sju.edu/sos/); the SJU COVID website (https://www.sju.edu/hawk-hill-ready); if you are experiencing food insecurity, HawkHub (https://clubs.sju.edu/hawkhubclub); The Bias Activity Review Group, which connects to Public Safety (https://sites.sju.edu/oid/bias/); CAPS (610-660-1090); TitleIX titleIX@sju.edu; REPP (*confidential support) 610-733-9650 (24 hr. Peer Helpline); or SJU Public Safety 610-660-1111.

A complete transcript of the video reads as follows:

[This semester has been definitely really difficult, especially being an RA on campus and also being a student with a pre-existing condition and who is immunocompromised because with being an RA, there’s definitely a lot of added responsibilities, a lot of added interactions that you can’t avoid. Just navigating that loneliness, that isolation that we’re all feeling, as well as being the people who have to provide that community for our residents. So we are always giving one hundred and ten percent to make sure that everyone else around us is feeling connected and feeling supported. But then we also kind of fall on the back side of that. 

College-age people aren’t taking COVID seriously, aren’t taking the precautions seriously. It’s definitely really difficult trying to manage all of the responsibilities and all of the hardships. As an RA, we’re kind of on the forefront of it and we’re like the guinea pigs, so to speak. Where are the ones who are making sure that everything’s okay and we’re the ones who are getting all of the slack for it, kind of. Especially being in dorms where cases have skyrocketed on campus. And it’s definitely adding an extra layer on keeping ourselves safe and just keeping ourselves, like, mentally well as well. There’s just a lot that goes into it that’s behind the scenes that residents don’t realize that professional staff doesn’t realize that friends don’t realize. It’s really only like the RA’s that fully understand what’s going on.

I knew at the end of the day that I at least wanted to give it a shot. I knew that there was going to be people in my building who were looking for someone to be there for them, especially during this time. And I couldn’t just walk away from it, not even giving it a shot. 

I think that finding positivity during this time can definitely be very difficult, but it’s also necessary to stay positive throughout this time. There is definitely really amazing things happening on this campus, really grateful for just the community as well as St. Joe’s coming together and actually starting to take it seriously, and that by the spring semester we will have more guidance and more understanding of what is actually going on. So I think that that definitely gives me a lot of hope for the future and [as we] continue to try to navigate the situation.]