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A Secret Ingredient: Love and Connection During COVID-19

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A Secret Ingredient: Love and Connection During COVID-19

MCPHS-Worcester assistant professor Leonard Contardo, OD, has found a creative way to connect with his students during COVID-19

Streaming their lectures over Zoom, socially distanced from their friends, and living in isolation or quarantine, the optometry students of MCPHS-Worcester, like college students all over the country, have faced a challenging spring semester. Thankfully, assistant professor Leonard Contardo, OD, is determined to provide a bright spot in the darkness. The caring instructor, who recently celebrated his 40th anniversary of becoming an optometrist, has been personally preparing and delivering home-cooked Italian meals to his students in Worcester, MA.

“What I love about our program here at the school is the strong sense of family and belonging,” said Contardo. “When we are teaching our students we are providing food for the mind. That is not enough. It was brought to my attention that our students, my family, were not eating properly. Mostly junk food or something fast and convenient. That's not good enough; not for my family.” To save his students from having to rely on microwaveable meals and ramen, Contardo (pictured in his kitchen) began assembling large batches of his favorite dishes for contact-free delivery. “When family needs you, you just do what you have to do,” Contardo said. “I drive alone so I am maintaining quarantine; I even wear a mask I made myself. I leave the food on the table in the vestibule, let the students know it’s there and drive away. I’m like a ninja: fast and quiet.”

Contardo’s contribution is rooted in his own experience of family. “I am from a big Italian family,” he says, “and I can modestly say I have some skills in the kitchen.” Looking back, the assistant professor likes to reference an Italian phrase when discussing his own winding career, which began in Worcester and lead him through over 25 years of private practice before bringing him back to the town where he began his career: “It was La Forza del Destino, or the force of destiny.”

Over the years, Contardo has found many ways to demonstrate commitment to his community, from serving on the Mass Board of Registration in Optometry to volunteering monthly at the Wesley Church free eye clinic alongside students from the SVOSH (Student Volunteers to Optometric Service to Humanity) club. So it was no surprise, when COVID-19 hit, that Contardo reacted by looking for ways to help. “It has been a difficult time for many of our students at MCPHS,” he said. “Imagine being quarantined away from home: worrying about catching this awful virus, having to sit in front of a computer watching online lectures alone in your room. The news is telling you don’t go out, practice social distancing, wear a mask… You are far away from home. Your parents and loved ones are worried about you.” His solution may not solve all the problems posed by COVID-19, but it will help his students feel less alone; for Contardo, that’s the point. “I started cooking, and in every dish I make, I have one consistent ingredient: love.”

 

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