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Impacting Ohio Communities Now

Supporting Butler County during the pandemic

Students and staff in Miami University’s public health program helped Butler County during the COVID-19 pandemic, developing alternative housing plans for vulnerable populations affected by the outbreak. The work included coordinating a team of student contact tracers, developing a survey, finding space in local hotels, and compiling a database of potential housing options for the county’s Emergency Management Agency. “I went to school for all those years and read all those public health books, but this is real public health in action,” said Kendall Leser, director of the public health program. Paula Green, associate director of conferences at Miami, supported these efforts by calling numerous hotel sites for possible quarantine housing.

Did you know?

The Butler County General Health District is led by Health Commissioner Jennifer Bailer ‘81, who also is a member of the public health program’s advisory board.

Miami students help with contact tracing

Miami students are part of Butler County’s contact tracing team. Starting in mid-May, Deirdre Sperry, a junior public health major from Minnesota, was among those calling people who had been in contact with someone who tested positive for coronavirus, asking them about their symptoms and providing details about self-isolation. “I’ve always been interested in these epidemics. It’s why I got interested in public health in the first place,” Sperry said.