The Hofstra Health Ambassadors Headquarters is located in front of Hofstra Hall, but student ambassadors are stationed around the ‘hot spots’ of campus. /// Photo courtesy of Jacob Lewis

Outside of Hofstra Hall is a large white tent with a ‘Hofstra Health Ambassadors’ banner. The Hofstra Health Ambassadors (HHA) is a new program designed to ensure the Hofstra community is staying safe while on campus.

Vice President of University Relations Melissa Connelly is the originator of HHA, which came to fruition as “a peer-to-peer way of keeping the community safe,” according to Sharon Phillips, associate professor of Health Professions and the head of HHA. Phillips was looped in by Connelly to oversee the program due to Phillips’ extensive knowledge of public health.

Beyond the initial set up, Phillips said getting the program up and running was a “fast paced” process since she only had about four weeks to hire two graduate assistants and students to become members of HHA.

“All of our employees are based out of the white tent, which we use as our home base,” said graduate assistant of HHA Andrew Adrian, a health administration major. “We have over 60 health ambassadors working with us, and [we] are placed around high traction areas [on] campus.”

The HHA tents have “PPE available, but it is in limited supply, so we suggest you bring your own,” according to Sophia Sola, a senior bioengineering major. As for students who need PPE, or commuters getting their complimentary PPE pack, Sola said they can pick it up from the HHA tent.

More tents and HHA members will be available around campus soon. “We’re planning to be stationed all around campus to remind people of [the] social distancing protocols,” Sola said.

All members of HHA were trained on the Safe Start for Hofstra, COVID-19, conflict resolution and the actual parameters of the position to make sure everyone was prepared for the role, according to Phillips. Within the first week of sending out the job announcement to the public, Phillips received over 60 applications from students of diverse majors and backgrounds.

Bukky Nwanko, a junior natural science major, found out about HHA through both social media posts and flyers around campus.

The HHA program only has enough funding for about one semester, but Phillips said that she hopes Hofstra will keep funding HHA, so that the university “can continue the program into subsequent semesters with a bigger focus on a broad public health focus.”

HHA also has a new mental health initiative designed by Mabel Origho, a public health major and graduate assistant of HHA. “We’re working on looking at a mental health initiative with the Honors College, where we set up a bi-monthly meeting for students to speak about their concerns, such as how [their] first week went,” she said.

HHA hopes to stay on Hofstra’s campus beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, but for now, they are here to help keep the Hofstra community safe.