From Offensive Line to Contact Tracing's Frontlines

This excerpt was taken from an article written by Working @ Duke on February 15, 2021.

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Soon after Christen Gillis tested positive for COVID-19, she got a call from a member of the employee health team charged with stopping the spread of the virus in Duke's workforce.

It was Brandon Harper from Duke Employee Occupational Health & Wellness (EOHW).

"Everything is going to be fine," Harper told Gillis, a physician assistant at Duke Urgent Care Croasdaile. "I'm going to help you get through this."

A former Duke Football offensive guard who graduated in 2010, Harper is now working at Duke on the employee health and wellness team. He no longer uses his 6-foot 3-inch frame to shield a quarterback but implements the same protective mindset for keeping staff and faculty safe as a lead contact tracer.

"When you're an offensive guard, you have to know where everyone is moving on the field," he said. "It's a lot like contact tracing. You're trying to track down the movements of everyone to keep your team protected."

With Gillis in November, Harper spent an hour talking with her on the phone, asking whom she came in contact with the prior week, walking her through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's guidelines on self-isolation and assuring her everything would be OK.

Gillis had just arrived in San Francisco at the time to visit her wife Kendall, who was in the city for a year-long medical fellowship. Over the next 10 days in isolation, Gillis battled fatigue and spoke with employee health case managers, who called every day to check on her.

She only spoke with Harper once, on the day she tested positive, but his soothing tone and demeanor stuck with her through her ordeal.

"Brandon was very calming," Gillis said. "I was thousands of miles away from home. Yet, it felt like Brandon had everything under control. It was almost therapeutic. He kept telling me to focus on getting better."

This is excerpted is from Working @ Duke and to read the full article click HERE.

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From Offensive Line to Contact Tracing's Frontlines

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