Return to normal drives contestants to vaccinate Master of management student Nfiya Osaroedey got vaccinated at a public clinic on campus Aug. 24. Second-year nursing student Andrew Hebert is ready for the pandemic to be over. “I decided to get my COVID-19 vaccine because it brings us one step closer towards being able to live a normal life again,” he says. “By getting my vaccine, I have done my part and taken my jab in beating COVID-19.” Hebert is one of this week’s winners in the Get Social about the Jab to Win! contest. He will receive a tuition voucher or Amazon e-card worth $500, as will computer science major Gabriela Peralta Milla, biomedical sciences student Timothy Igbokwe, and Linda Nguyen, a first-year student of behaviour, cognition, and neuroscience. “I believe getting the COVID-19 vaccine to reduce the risk of not only my family members who are immunocompromised but also the people that I take care of, is part of my responsibility as a healthcare worker,” Nguyen says. Five additional entrants won a #TakeAJabUWindsor…
Researchers seeking participants for COVID-19 survey A team of UWindsor health researchers is looking for volunteers to participate in a survey called Student, Faculty, and Staff Perceptions of On-campus COVID-19 Testing, Return to Campus, and Vaccination Hesitancy. “The purpose of the survey is to gather insights from the University of Windsor student, faculty, and staff population to inform effective campus health messaging,” says lead researcher Kendall Soucie, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology. “Another key objective is to determine common perceived barriers and facilitators to weekly COVID-19 screening procedures.” The survey is a collaboration between WE-Spark Health Institute’s project “Students Igniting Vaccine Confidence Program in Windsor-Essex” and its COVID Screening Platform. Dr. Soucie says the team aims to determine factors and barriers to getting vaccinated and critical demographics that will need to be targeted. “Consideration of this data may highlight opportunities to increase voluntary…
Winners share motivation for vaccination PhD student Haesung Ahn shows off the site of his vaccination against COVID-19. Protecting themselves and others from the coronavirus and hoping to speed social recovery from the pandemic are the most common reasons cited for getting vaccinated by the first week’s winners of the Get Social about the Jab to Win! contest. Typical was first-year psychology major Paige Sajtovich. “I got my vaccine to protect myself and especially others who are more vulnerable than I am in the community,” she posted to her personal Facebook page. “I want us all to be able to enjoy the things we used to enjoy again. We are all in this together.” Haesung Ahn, a doctoral candidate in civil engineering, told his Instagram followers he misses previous normal student life. “I got my vaccine,” Ahn added. “I think it could be the most effective way to prevent spreading the virus.” Sajtovich and Ahn are among five initial winners who will receive a #TakeAJabUWindsor T-shirt, a $10 Tim Horton’s…
Researcher investigates safety of vaping ingredients UWindsor professor Drew Marquardt says his research will help pinpoint which ingredients found in vapes and e-cigarettes are contributing to severe lung illness in users. His project “Vaping-Associated Lung Injury: Insight into Mechanisms of Action” received $15,000 as part of the Breathing as One Young Investigators Research Award, a Canadian Lung Association program led by the Lung Health Foundation. “Lung injury from vaping was established as an epidemic mere months before the COVID pandemic struck and since then has largely flown under the radar,” says Dr. Marquardt, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, cross-appointed to the Department of Physics. “Yet there’s been a surge in young people aged 18 to 30 who are vaping and a large number of them are getting sick, so we are interested in how ingredients like Vitamin E acetate interact with the lungs, contributing to this dangerous alveolar, or lung, injury.” Marquardt and his team are investigating…
Report details quarterly successes of WE-Spark Health Institute WE-Spark Health Institute has released its quarterly report detailing achievements along key metrics from May to July 2021. WE-Spark Health Institute has released its quarterly report detailing achievements along key metrics from May to July 2021. Highlights include: increased membership by 54 new members for a total of 731; awarded 14 grants totaling $287,000; launched a network with 20 active volunteers logging 600+ hours; expanded its health resource hub to include transgender and gender diverse, and mental health resources; piloted an app for researchers to connect using a mobile device; hosted five events, including Think Tanks and Knowledge Translation workshops; and created a medical research associate position formalizing how Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry – Windsor Campus medical students integrate with the local research community. WE-Spark Health Institute is supported by the University of Windsor, Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, Windsor Regional Hospital, and St.…
Windsor study finds irritability, anxiety on the rise in kids during pandemic The newly-published study from the WE-SPARK Health Institute — a partnership between local hospitals, St. Clair College and the University of Windsor — measured the mental health impact of the pandemic on 190 families with kids aged eight to 13 in Windsor and Essex. It found that 51 per cent of kids reported clinically significant irritability, as many as 34 per cent reported anxiety and 25 per cent reported clinically significant depression. “There was a lot of speculation at the (start of the pandemic) that the pandemic reflected a trauma or loss because childrenwere missing out on activities,” said Dr. Lance Rappaport, lead investigator on the study. “My goal was to shed light on and identify how is this affecting kids and what are they struggling with so we can better help them and really use that information and science to guide how we help them recover.” Dr. Lance Rappaport, the lead investigator on a new Windsor-based study that found irritability, anxiety and depression…
Pandemic making broad impact on children’s mental health, researchers find Professor Lance Rappaport led one of Canada's first studies on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of children. Irritability, anxiety, and depression are among the symptoms reported by children in a new study that documents the pervasive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s mental health. Led by UWindsor psychology professor Lance Rappaport, a team of researchers surveyed children aged 8 to 13 from 190 families in the Windsor-Essex region and their parents or guardians. “The first goal was to establish a baseline to measure the acute effect of the pandemic,” said Dr. Rappaport, director of the Development and Etiology of Anxiety and Related conditions (DEAR) Lab. “We then focused on establishing whether the impact on children was limited to PTSD-related symptoms consistent with trauma or included broader impacts consistent with chronic stress,” he said. “Understanding the exact effect of the pandemic allows us to now design new treatments…
Researcher to explore issues of LGBTQ+ students in science and tech Michael Godfrey has received a postdoctoral fellowship to explore improving equity, diversity, and inclusion within science. Michael Godfrey (BHK 2014) has secured the first-ever Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) postdoctoral fellowship in the UWindsor Faculty of Science with his application: “Campus climate and persistence of LGBTQ+ students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.” Dr. Godfrey says he was hopeful when he applied, but knew the awards are extremely competitive. He enjoyed an “extraordinary feeling” when he received the second-highest score in his disciplinary committee. “This kind of fellowship really recognizes your capability as a scholar and the importance of your program of research at the federal level,” he says. This is only the second SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship to be awarded to a UWindsor researcher. The fellowship supports the most promising Canadian new scholars by assisting them in establishing a research…
Contest offering prizes for joining vaccine campaign Graduate Student Society president Adam Pillon gets in the ring in the fight against COVID-19. UWindsor students, staff, and faculty will have a chance to win a share of 55 prizes valued at more than $17,400 through a contest encouraging others to do their part to K.O. COVID by getting the COVID vaccine. The Get Social about the Jab to Win! contest opens at 1 p.m. Monday, Aug. 9, and offers prizes that include tuition vouchers, Amazon gift cards, and an Apple laptop or iPad Air tablet computer. To enter weekly draws, “like” a post on the UWindsor Facebook or Instagram accounts with the #TakeAJabUWindsor or #KOCOVID hashtag, explaining why you decided to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Larger prizes are available for sharing a photo, video, or text message supporting the #TakeaJab campaign. Find details, including contest rules and eligibility, an entry form, and a calendar of prize draws, on the “Get Social about the Jab to Win” website. Courtesy: https://www.uwindsor.ca/dailynews/2021-08-06/contest-offering-prizes-joining-vaccine-campaign
