Answering the call: Amid pandemic, UNE COM students celebrate match to residencies

Eliza Foster, B.S., (D.O., ’20), of Raymond, Maine, was at first disappointed to find out she would not be celebrating Match Day with her friends in the University of New England’s College of Osteopathic Medicine (UNE COM).

For the first time since UNE began participating in the national Match Day, the date when students in the National Resident Matching Program learn where they will be completing their medical residencies, the ceremony was held online, as the outbreak of the novel coronavirus derailed the traditional in-person celebration slated for Friday, March 20.

It was a change most in the Class of 2020, including Foster, were not expecting. But, Foster reminded herself, the change to a virtual venue did not diminish the amount of hard work completed during her four years of medical education.

“I remembered that this is what we are trained to do; we are trained to adapt,” said Foster, who match to a residency at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston. “The success and excitement around Match Day were still there. Virtual Match Day was just one more way our new generation of doctors exhibits resilience and adaptability during times of uncertainty.”

Uncertain times they are. The coronavirus shows no signs of slowing down. States across America continue to grapple with rising cases of COVID-19 and some have ordered total shelter-in-place orders, restricting the movement of millions of people.

For aspiring physicians like Foster, while there is fear of what is to come, above all there is the passion to make a difference.

“Finding out in the midst of this uncharted territory where we are about to enter the front lines of the medical field is an experience all of its own,” Foster said. “I would like to think that it is times such as these that we are reminded of why we were called to medicine in the first place: to help the sick, to protect the healthy, and to decrease the burden of disease one day at a time.”

More than 70 UNE COM students, plus their closest friends and family, were set to convene on the first floor of the Danielle N. Ripich Commons on UNE’s Biddeford Campus to celebrate Match Day. As they have done in past years, at exactly noon, students would have opened envelopes listing their matches and then celebrated with Champagne. Instead, they were instructed to log onto a website that would inform them of their matches and to share their experiences on social media.

And, although the original March Day ceremony was upended, with a little virtual improvisation, the organizers and students managed to find ways to celebrate the formidable accomplishments of the graduating class, despite the understandable sadness and uncertainty many were experiencing.

“If there was ever any doubt about the importance of health care professionals in our society, and especially of physicians, those doubts are now gone,” President James D. Herbert, Ph.D., said to students in his video address.

The event’s welcoming remarks were pre-recorded and streamed live on the University’s Facebook and YouTube accounts. Joining Herbert in addressing the students were Vin Buonocore, M.Ed., assistant dean of Recruitment, Student and Alumni Services, and Jane Carreiro, D.O., vice president for Health Affairs and dean of UNE COM.

Carreiro reminded the soon-to-be graduates of the joy of the day. “First and foremost, congratulations. This is a wonderful day. It is a huge step in your journey and your development as a physician,” she said to the camera.

But the dean, remaining optimistic, also took a moment to signal the severity of the current pandemic, saying the budding physicians would need to meet the needs of their communities head on.

“It seems like each generation of physicians faces its own challenge, and this one belongs to you,” she said. “You folks are going to hit the floors, and you will hit the floors running. I know you all have the skills, the knowledge, the commitment, and the character to meet what’s coming.”

The numbers only support Carreiro’s statement. This year, UNE COM boasts an exceptionally high match rate of 95.95%, higher than the national averages for allopathic medical schools (93.7%) and osteopathic medical schools (90.7%).

In total, 164 UNE COM students matched to residencies in 16 specialties across 27 states, including programs in family medicine, internal medicine, and pediatrics. Sixteen students will stay in Maine to complete their programs.
Celebrating these successes was integral in planning Match Day, said Buonocore, even if it took additional work to move the entire program online.

“There is no way we weren’t going to find a way to acknowledge these students’ monumental accomplishments,” Buonocore said. “It was important for all of us who played a role in planning Match Day that these students have a ceremony where they could hear from our University leaders and celebrate their success with each other in some way.

“While this wasn’t exactly the event we had envisioned for them, I hope they know how proud and appreciative we are of what they are about to devote themselves to,” he added.

Justine Lazatin, B.S., (D.O., ’20) matched at Harvard South Shore’s Psychiatry Residency Training Program in Brockton, Massachusetts, near Boston. She also felt the same disappointment as Foster in not being able to share the joy of Match Day with her friends and UNE COM faculty but also knows that, as a medical professional, plans can change at a moment’s notice.

“When you choose a field in medicine, you have to be a planner. It’s a long, arduous road that leads up to Match Day,” Lazatin said. “But COVID-19 was not in our plans.”

Lazatin, of Buffalo, New York, is grateful to UNE and UNE COM for their innovation in organizing a virtual Match Day celebration. While daunting, the experience of learning her match, she said, has her energized for the future.

“We are about to become doctors during an unprecedented time in history, and admittedly that makes me feel uneasy,” she said. “However, I feel prepared and confident in the clinical training that UNE COM has given me. I am looking forward to no longer being ‘just a medical student,’ but being able to play an active role in addressing the pandemic.” 

Foster, who will complete her residency in family medicine, echoed that sentiment.

“I believe we have been prepared to play our role in the bigger picture, whatever that may be,” she said. “Our medical experiences, ability to adapt to change, and determination to come out on the other side more prepared and knowledgeable will serve us well as we start our medical careers in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. We are ready.”