By Brandon HENSLEY

It’s not a surprise to see people in the foothills come together for one another, especially now in a time of a global pandemic. A local college student is embodying that spirit this summer, pushing hard to bring families and friends closer together even though they are separated due to social distancing.

Connect for COVID-19 is a national organization aimed at providing hospitals with technology to help patients connect with their loved ones when they are not allowed to see them in person. Devices such as tablets and smartphones are donated, collected and given to hospitals.

Sofia Yeremian, a third-year student at UCLA and graduate of Clark Magnet High School, was part of the outreach team at UCLA called Students vs. Pandemic. She’s now working with Connect for COVID-19, joining students from Keck School of Medicine of USC as part of the outreach team.

“When I saw this was starting, I pretty much jumped in and took the role as a resource leader. I’ve been trying to reach out and form an alliance so we can be a supplement to organizations,” she said.

Nationally, the organization has donated more than 600 devices to hospitals. Locally, it’s been able to get around 50 iPads and tablets to facilities. Yeremian said she’s received positive feedback on how it’s helped patients.

“[Doctors and nurses] have been seeing improvement in the way patients are recovering,” she said. “Patients might forget a device when they come to the hospital. They’re isolated. They talk to loved ones, but they’re not able to engage with loved ones.

“Isolation has a big impact on mental health. You don’t know what the outcome is going to be, especially with COVID. A lot of people don’t know how they’re going to recover … Having these devices and being able to talk to someone has a big impact.”

Yeremian is one of the few non-med school students participating in Connect for COVID. She admitted that though Clark Magnet High is big on robotics that track never interested her. She’s currently a molecular biology major. But her resumé in extracurricular activities is also strong. Yeremian has fundraised for animal awareness and volunteers for her church. At Clark, she was in ASB for two years and was senior class president.

It’s that kind of drive that may help Connect for COVID-19 receive more exposure. Yeremian said it was difficult to get attention from the media at first, that big name media weren’t interested when Yeremian sent out information. But NBCLA recently did a Facebook Live interview with the organization, and that garnered 18,000 views.

Yeremian said hospitals will be able to keep all the devices after the pandemic. She said telemedicine is growing and becoming a useful tool not just for patients being able to talk to loved ones but for doctors to follow up and communicate with patients; this outreach could play a part in that growth.

Connect for COVID-19 is in contact with telemedicine facilities and Yeremian said telemedicine is something patients might have to get used to even after the pandemic.

“The demand is growing. We don’t have a cap on our goal of donations,” she said. “We’re going to keep doing this as long as it takes.”

Connect for COVID-19 would prefer donations be kept locally to the LA area. Donors are encouraged to erase all data from their devices before donating. Email conenctforla@gmail.com for more information. To donate money, visit “Help COVID-19 Patients Connect with Loved Ones” on gofundme.org.

  Brandon Hensley