Tim Gibbs '76

Alumni Reflections during COVID-19

Timothy E Gibbs '76
Executive Director
Delaware Academy of Medicine / Delaware Public Health Association

How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your experience at work? At home?

Needless to say, we rapidly pivoted our activities to work from home and online. All public-facing events were postponed until our board, who are all medical and public health experts, concur that it is safe to resume "business as usual.”

At home, maintaining a strong boundary between work time and home time have been essential, as has keeping connected with colleagues via phone, zoom, email, and even an occasional face to face meeting with appropriate precautions in place.

I've been personally involved at the national level through the American Public Health Association with shifting national programs to focus on COVID-19. Most recently that has been with National Public Health Week and the All of Us NIH Research Project.

Are there any stories you would like to share?

I am heartened to see how most of our community came together to respond, appropriately, to this invisible threat. Moving from a competing mindset to a caring mindset has been awesome to see.

Never has it been more important to share genuine gratitude for everyone (and I do mean everyone) who works in healthcare and all of those other essential jobs that make our lives what we have come to take for granted.

How did your WFS education prepare you for your work at the moment?

The value of patience, of science, and of consensus in decision-making have never been clearer to me.

Is there anything else you would like to share with the WFS Community?

Three things:

First, in order to best support those around you, first you must take care of yourself.

Second, these are challenging times. Lean into the discomfort, process feelings, and remember that we each have a ""side of the road"" that is uniquely ours to take care of.

Third, everyone's feelings are valid - even if we don't happen to agree with them. More than ever, this is a time to accept and respect differing points of view - we all face a common threat, and it is time to set differences aside and come together.

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