Sandra Gomberg ’85 BSN, ’90 MSN, RN

CEO, COVID Surge Facility Liacouras Arena, Philadelphia

April 4, 2020

The City of Philadelphia has asked me to be the CEO of the COVID Surge Facility at the Liacouras Arena.  This is a COVID positive facility that will scale, in 10 days, to at least 250 patients who have been through the inpatient care experience and are on the recovery trajectory ultimately to be discharged home.  We are transforming a basketball arena into a hospital in less than 2 weeks.

I am currently teaching Healthcare Finance in the DNP program.  I am acutely aware of the amazing strength and struggles of our students in their leadership roles.  I have heard their powerful stories punctuated with feelings of helplessness as patients deteriorate and die before their eyes and their feelings of grief of not being able to better protect their staff.  

I accepted this assignment based on the strength and fortitude of our students who did not get a choice to say yes or no to the assignment - to honor their struggle, their grief - and - their relief when staff remains well and patients get to go home.

I am committed to my students in the finance classes I am teaching (one for CON and one in which I am 'pinch-hitting' in the MBA program) in order to tie real-life experiences into the academic content.  For example, adding COVID prompted-rationing of scarce resources to student discussions have been powerful in soliciting debates around students' lived-experiences.

Thank you for the privilege to be a member of the faculty.