Three Flyers provide health care together during COVID-19

During a Sunday rotation at OSU Wexner Medical Center, three UD alumni posed — 6 feet apart — for a picture.

It wasn’t long until the UD community sent messages of well wishes and gratitude via Twitter.

Mark Rastetter ’02, Pat Dyer ’14 and Katy Anderson ’15 are on the frontlines of the fight against COVID-19. Rastetter, an associate program director of family medicine residency, was excited when he saw that two of the residents on rotation that day were fellow Flyers and suggested they take a picture in-between rounds.

Socially distant rounds for @OhioStateFamMed . Stars aligned to put 3 @univofdayton Flyers- @PatDyer_92 @KatyAndersonDO and myself together to care for patients during this pandemic. We are proud to be working @osuwexmed during this time in history so you can #StayAtHome pic.twitter.com/S0QIPPVBlK

— MarkRastetterMD (@MarkRastetterMD) March 30, 2020

While the alignment in their schedules was happenstance, it could not have come at a better time.

“With all of this craziness happening, and to have your fellow Flyers on service with you, there is always a nice sense of camaraderie there. It kind of helps bring some normalcy to things and some comfort to the situation,” Anderson said.

The colleagues are, of course, Flyer fans through-and-through and couldn’t help but notice how different that Sunday could have been.

“We never would have predicted that we would all be on the same day taking care of people during this pandemic instead of watching the basketball team in the Elite Eight,” Dyer said.

In this time of great uncertainty, the colleagues discussed the ever-changing conditions in the hospital. While family care professionals already serve patients with a wide array of needs, the pandemic has only added to the list of demands. Their previous conversations with insurers and health care organizations about how to offer progressive care through means such as virtual visits are now helping lessen foot traffic in the hospital, Rastetter said.

“By reducing people coming in, we can make more room for people that actually need to be coming in,” Rastetter said. “One of the things with this pandemic is it has pushed that agenda forward immensely.”

As medical residents, Anderson and Dyer are filling in where necessary. The entire medical community is supporting one another — both on and off rotation.

“There are medical students at Ohio State right now who are not on their rotation, so they are actually volunteering their time for childcare, grocery shopping, chores, things like that,” Anderson said.

The colleagues expressed that while a global pandemic was unexpected and disastrous, it has made their callings to serve only grow. All three medical professionals credit UD for planting seeds of service, social justice and intentionality.

“I knew I wanted to be integrated into the community, and I always knew I wanted to do family practice because it does allow you to be fully immersed into the community,” Anderson said. “The University of Dayton definitely was a place that fostered that desire to serve and really helped me continue on that path.”

While the colleagues were surprised at the number of responses their Twitter post received, they were familiar with the messages of love and support from the UD community.

Dyer said, “No matter the age, it’s good to see that Flyers always stick together.”

After all, that’s what families are for.

More Flyer family

And because we can't pass up the opportunity to show a cute Flyer family picture, here is Mark Rastetter ’02 and Mary Popelar Rastetter ’05 with their three children, all showing their Flyer pride in March.