Covid-19 on Campus with an Autoimmune Disease

A Saint Joseph’s University Senior discusses her experience of being on campus with an underlying condition during the Covid-19 pandemic. With the support of the SJU community, her experiences have been less fearful than what she had anticipated.  

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:

[[I think that the reason why we were so successful with like staying on campus is because at Saint Joe’s, everyone has a real buy-in into what our school is about and why being in person being able to interact and have these communities be active regardless of how strange it is, is is essential in a sense. I think that everyone sort of adopted that mindset like, being here, being together, even in a socially distant format, is essential to this community so we need to do whatever it takes to make that happen. I think that’s something that Saint Joseph’s has done really well in this pandemic and I think as someone with an underlying condition, I think that the community of Saint Joe’s does really sort of encompass like care of the whole person and being just unapologetically understanding of having a chronic illness and I think with professors, with peers, anything like, if there was ever a time that I felt like I don’t want to go into class today because I know that like my condition is making me nervous that I feel really confident that 99% of my professors would be like no problem, I totally understand. And that is really a unique, I think privilege of going here and being at a school that’s so interconnected and involved with one another]