Doctor from Bigfork supports frontline workers

When Bigfork native Dr. Kendra Harris saw a need among her fellow medical professionals in New Orleans, she wanted to help.

A 1998 graduate of Bigfork High School and the chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Tulane University School of Medicine for the past two years, Harris and her colleagues could only watch in late February and early March as Mardis Gras festivities led to a massive outbreak of COVID-19 in New Orleans.

When the state abruptly closed all schools and daycare centers on March 15, many working parents suddenly found themselves facing a new dilemma.

“A lot of people can’t just call up grandma and have them come over and take care of the kids every day,” Harris said. “They may be able to help, but you have to think about their safety as well. It’s just a very tough situation to be in.”

Particularly worried about residents, the doctors in training at the medical school, Harris, under the leadership of School of Medicine Dean Lee Hamm, partnered with university administrators to establish the Tulane Frontline Providers Fund: Green Wave Heroes as a way to help support all of the front-line workers at Tulane’s medical school.

The university soon began offering emergency stipends for childcare expenses to the families of affected medical residents, at a cost of more than $10,000 per week, through the natural end of the school year at a total cost of more than $120,000. In addition, the school has also spent $100,000 for food for its front-line workers during the pandemic, so far. Harris was determined to find a way to help pay that money back.

In isolation thinking she had contracted the virus (she would turn out to test negative) and armed with a list of 1,000 former Tulane medical school residents, Harris set to work cold-calling those on the list in search of donations.

“I have never been mistaken for a robo-caller like that before in my life,” she laughed.

Calling several hundred former students per day, Harris started to receive donations in a response that she describes as nothing short of “amazing.”

“This has been a real opportunity for people who trained here to show their love for those who are still training here now and support those medical professionals as they try to work through this,” Harris said. “It has been genuinely heart-warming to see people willing to give back like this.”

With the help of current medical students, the phone campaign continued to bring in donations, giving Harris the time to focus on the next problem — providing meals to front-line workers who were operating in a hospital where the cafeteria had been shut down and were not in walking distance of any open restaurants.

In an effort to use purchases to help stimulate the local economy, Harris used four local restaurants to help provide meals for the staff that continued to battle the pandemic every day.

“It’s been amazing and inspirational to watch my friends and colleagues putting themselves and their families in harm’s way to be there for their patients and the community,” she said. “That is always true, but their commitment has been even more evident during these times.”

So far, more than 10,000 meals have been delivered.

In addition, the relief efforts inspired the local Jewish Federation to donate 1,600 take-home meals over an eight week period for workers at the end of their shifts.

To date, the foundation has received a number of corporate and private donations, including one corporate donation of $75,000 and one private donation of $25,000 for food costs.

The fund has also received a large corporate grant to help fund “Letters from the Porch,” a web series that encourages local musicians to record and post videos that offer their gifts in gratitude to the medical community. Artists perform on their porch or on the sidewalk in front of their house either solo or with their accompaniment, maintaining proper social distance. These intimate shows are screened for the medical community inside local hospitals and then released online for the public twice a week.

While the efforts of Harris and the Tulane Frontline Providers Fund: Green Wave Heroes have helped offset the mounting costs for Tulane’s front-line workers, she says the work will continue as the situation shows no signs of slowing down.

“We must keep dealing with new situations as they arise. One thing that makes this pandemic so different is that it is so indiscriminate. It is unprecedented. You could be delivering donations to the emergency room and then find yourself in need of care. It’s just so different from anything else we have faced in my professional lifetime. Nobody is immune,” she said. “The tragedy is real and still unfolding. I am honored to be a part of the response and will provide what help I can during what is a horrible and ongoing experience.” ■