As an institution with roots in the Middle Ages, higher education is not typically known for its agility. But faced with a pandemic that upended every aspect of daily life, Case Western Reserve accepted the imperative to adapt—and, in many instances, embraced it.

From a student starting her own pandemic course, to all-star guest speakers, to alumni offering unexpected opportunities, the community demonstrated initiative, creativity, and inspiring dedication.

Even more, the success of those efforts showed the campus how quickly innovation can happen when shared purpose and necessity meet.

On an average day, the university’s seven-story Larry Sears and Sally Zlotnick Sears think[box] is the site of bustling activity. But life during the COVID-19 pandemic looks anything but normal. As Case Western Reserve’s on-campus operations came to a halt, its 50,000-square-foot innovation center suddenly stood empty of students and visitors. So the team at Sears think[box] did what it does best: innovate.

In a matter of days, staff members turned their focus exclusively to pandemic-related projects, building critical partnerships with health care systems and manufacturers and designing prototypes to meet their needs.

Across the country—and around the world—nearly every aspect of life has been impacted by the pandemic, including how and where we work and volunteer.

Case Western Reserve University alumni have been on the front lines in hospitals, clinics, health departments, social-service agencies and more. But their work in other areas—such as churches, fire stations and funeral homes—also has been greatly impacted.

Read just a few of the ways our alumni made a difference in the early weeks of the pandemic, in their communities and beyond.

As the COVID-19 pandemic began overwhelming health care systems and disrupting industries worldwide, daily life suddenly felt like uncharted territory.

News outlets provided the framework for this sensation: In a matter of weeks, coverage in the United States shifted from occasional features on the virus abroad to an onslaught of stories reporting “unprecedented” phenomena.

But the truth is, we’ve been here before. More than a century ago, the Spanish flu of 1918 worked its way across the globe, prompting many of the same public health measures government officials have implemented in 2020.

And, amid today’s pandemic, the work of an undergraduate history alumnus turned medical student has helped engage and educate the public.

Physicians and nurses rush into a hospital room when a patient is in crisis or near death. It’s both instinctive and engrained by practice.

But amid the pandemic, there’s no dashing in. Instead there’s a methodical donning of personal protective equipment (PPE) to avoid contamination and further spread of the coronavirus—“and then you go into a room,” said Edward Warren, MD (MED ’87), division director of pulmonary/critical care and sleep medicine at The MetroHealth System in Cleveland and an associate professor of medicine at Case Western Reserve.

So too, hospitals can’t race to respond to an outbreak without deliberate advance action. And that includes an enormous amount of discussion and planning involving countless questions, such as: How should they allocate ventilators and other resources in the event of a shortage? How do they best care for people critically ill with a contagious and virulent virus while also protecting clinical teams who visit patients? And how should clinicians respond to family members not allowed to visit loved ones, or other hospital workers anxious about their own health?

In recent months, Warren faced all of the above and more.

Maria Luisa Bates Domenech had a problem.

On spring break when the university moved to remote learning, she needed to get back to campus to gather essentials for class—and, afterwards, home to Utah.

But on short notice, the tickets were beyond her budget.

Enter the Student Emergency Fund, which can offer immediate assistance to those who need it. Bates Domenech—and hundreds of other students—applied; after an accelerated staff review, she was among those to receive almost-instant reimbursement for expenses.

"By alleviating this big financial stress, I was able to just come home, focus on my family, get used to the new schooling [method] and all of that," Bates Domenech said. "I'm so, so grateful to the university, to the alumni, to the faculty, and to the community members who were able to make it happen."