HJNO Mar/Apr 2021

32 MAR / APR 2021  I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS   Healthcare Briefs Defense is one more measure we can all take.” COVID Defense works in three easy steps: 1. Download the application: Download the free app in the iPhone App Store or Android Google Play Store. Add your phone to Louisiana’s exposure notifi- cation system to get COVID-19 exposure alerts and to protect those around you. 2. Opt in anonymously: Once you opt in, COVID Defense will gen- erate an anonymous token for your device. To help ensure these anonymous tokens can’t be used to identify you or your loca- tion, they change every 10-20 minutes. 3. Get notified if exposed: On a daily basis, your phone downloads a list of all the anonymous tokens associated with positive COVID-19 cases and checks them against the list of anonymous tokens it has encountered in the last 14 days. If there’s a match, the app will notify you with further instructions on how to keep you and the people around you safe. For more information or to download the appli- cation, visit coviddefensela.com. RetiredMedical Providers Encouraged to Volunteer as COVID-19 Vaccinators To boost the speed of administering COVID-19 vaccines to the community, the Louisiana Depart- ment of Health is encouraging retired medical providers to help put shots in arms. “We do not expect the vaccine to become widely available for the general public until spring or summer, but we are doing all we can now to make sure we are ready when that time comes,” said Sundée Winder, PhD, interim exec- utive director of the Bureau of Community Pre- paredness. “We appreciate qualified retired med- ical providers who are willing to join the effort to begin putting this pandemic behind us.” Those eligible to volunteer include retired: • Physicians and osteopaths, • Nurses, • Pharmacists, • Dentists, • Paramedics and emergency medical tech- nicians, and • Physician’s assistants. Work days and times will be flexible, with morn- ings, afternoons, and evenings available. Per- sonal protective equipment and training will be provided. Those interesting in volunteering should email DHHEOC03@la.gov and designate their pre- ferred work days, times, and parish or parishes. Volunteers also should register with Louisiana Volunteers in Action (LAVA), the Department of Health’s volunteer database. Tulane Creates Presidential Chair in Aging with $5M Gift fromAlumnus A $5 million gift from Tulane alumnus Richard M. Lerner (A&S ’81, B ’83) will create the univer- sity’s eighth Presidential Chair, this one devoted to increasing the world’s scientific understanding of aging and longevity. Tulane will establish the Lawrence E. Lerner Presidential Chair Endowed Fund to support a professor in an interdisciplinary area of academic study. Lerner has requested that the initial chair holder be a scholar whose research focuses on gerontology or related disciplines. The Presiden- tial Chair is named for Lerner’s father, a real estate developer and bank director who died in 2019. For Lerner, the major challenge facing geron- tology today is not just adding years to life but ensuring that those years are marked by higher levels of good health, vitality and vigor. “It’s great that people are living longer thanks to advances in science and medicine, but from experience, many of us know that those additional years are not always good ones,” Lerner said. “In simplest terms, I hope that new and innovative research in the field of aging makes it possible for our loved ones to derive some pleasure from those incre- mental years. If not, what is the point?” Lerner’s experiences with his father’s aging process have left an indelible mark on him and served as a major impetus for his gift to Tulane. “I’ve never forgotten what a nurse who was tak- ing care of my father in the hospital told me one day: ‘Whoever coined the term “aging gracefully” died young,’” Lerner recalled. “That statement rang true for me then, and it still does today. But it doesn’t have to remain that way forever. I’m hopeful that the establishment of a Presidential Chair in aging will contribute to the advancement of research that leads to healthier, happier and more productive lifespans. And as research helps us to better understand the process of aging, the ultimate aspiration is to slow it down and delay or prevent the onset of cognitive decline and dementia.” Participating in the Mary Bird Perkins TGMC Cancer Center streaming Tree for Life event are, left to right, Janeiro Goffin, MD, Rose Cuneo, nurse practitioner, Sara Stark, nurse practitioner, and Sukesh Manthri, MD.