Reflections from the Covid-19 Pandemic: Pursuits of Panaceas

By Neha B. Jampala

This book is a nonfiction endeavor that aims to capture a snapshot of what American society was like during the public health crisis of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Through a series of interviews featuring people who have struggled with loss, financial limitations, and working strenuous frontline jobs, the book aims to elucidate crucial voices who share their experiences of how they coped, persisted, and reflected during quarantines and lockdowns. These interviews, all of which have been transformed into a cohesive article/story-like format, also feature people who have pioneered change during the pandemic, such as PPE providers, nonprofit organizations, and heads of major institutions in education and healthcare. Hopefully, readers will be left with a scintilla of each person’s story and will reflect upon the lessons we have learned during the pandemic — lessons that remind us of the strength and intricacy of humanity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: LifeRich Publishing
• Release date: Aug 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9781489742940

Neha B. Jampala

Neha Jampala is a rising senior at Deerfield Academy, a boarding school in Massachusetts. Her love for reading from a young age naturally guided her interest in writing fiction — she published her first novel, Throughout The Future, in middle school. Wanting to delve into journalism, Neha started writing for her school newspapers and now serves as the Head News Editor. Her desire to take her interest in nonfiction writing to a higher level has brought her to publish this book on COVID-19 reflections, which she started working on in 2021.

Book preview

cover.jpg

REFLECTIONS

from the

COVID-19

PANDEMIC:

PURSUITS OF PANACEAS

NEHA B. JAMPALA

Copyright © 2022 Neha B. Jampala.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by

any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system

without the written permission of the author except in the case

of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

LifeRich Publishing is a registered trademark of

The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc.

LifeRich Publishing

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.liferichpublishing.com

844-686-9607

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or

links contained in this book may have changed since publication and

may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those

of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher,

and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are

models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-4897-4293-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4897-4294-0 (e)

LifeRich Publishing rev. date:   08/05/2022

I would like to dedicate this book to Dr. William A. Haseltine who has been an admirable role model and mentor for me and the next generation of young leaders. Thank you for your continued dedication to making our world a better place through your pioneering work in the sciences and philanthropy.

Contents

Introduction and Inspiration

Preface: Scintillas of Memory

Jack Chen: ‘What Wuhan Means to Me’

Head of School Dr. John P. N. Austin: Deerfield Academy — A Community Built On Collaboration

Aravind Mallipudi: The Strength of a Thousand Hearts for One

Dr. Virginia Bieluch: Humility Throughout the Hardest Times

Rashi Soni: Trying Times Call for Incredible Improvisation

Ram: The Fight of a Mother’s Love Against COVID-19

Missy: To Learn And To Remember

Dr. Gretna Wilkinson: A Poet’s Perspective of Humans as Metaphors for Survival

Altrui Foundation: Young Trailblazers Tackling Gaps in Pharmaceutical Supply Chains

John Luckenbill: Finding Silver Lining In The Music Industry

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Introduction and Inspiration

I am Neha Jampala, a rising senior at Massachusetts boarding school, Deerfield Academy. Last summer of 2021, I interned under Dr. William A. Haseltine at the New York office of ACCESS Health International, a non-profit think tank whose U.S. chapter pivoted its research efforts to COVID-19 developments and social impact. With an interest in anthropology and public policy research, I wanted to take back some of the lessons I learned during my internship and apply them to an independent project, which has culminated in writing a series of stories featuring impactful people. I am also honored to have received the Workman Grant from Deerfield Academy’s Center for Service and Global Citizenship to pursue this project.

To detail my approach, I first interviewed several people whom the pandemic has uniquely impacted. Using information from the interviews, I wrote short feature stories on each individual that connect back to the book’s overall message of finding solidarity, solutions, and hope in the community around us during the pandemic. In my series, I featured people who have lost loved ones to the pandemic, worked as essential front-line workers, or had financial difficulties. I also included stories of those who played pivotal roles in COVID relief by running non-profits, healthcare services, or mentorship programs to help make a difference during the crisis. I felt that compiling this series featuring our community members would be a great way to capture a snapshot of history and elucidate stories that would otherwise be unheard.

Preface: Scintillas of Memory

Dear Readers,

Thank you for picking up this book and trusting me to be your raconteur. As I write this preface, I cannot help but notice how common themes intricately connect all the stories in this compilation. These connections are a testament to the way humanity is a reflection of a community’s interwoven passions, interests, and motives. Ultimately, these individual threads combine to make a fabric that has the potential to hold together even during the most trying times.

I am particularly inspired by a study conducted by Uri Hasson, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Princeton University. He noted that one’s brain waves start to synchronize with the storyteller’s as we hear their story unfold. Professor Hasson named this phenomenon Neural Coupling.

When we read, our natural inclination is to try and decipher what will happen next, which activates our brains to see situations from different perspectives. Reading helps us develop a beautiful connection with the words that go beyond the