Responding to COVID-19

Story by Claudene Wharton

The nation’s farmers and ranchers are accustomed to weathering storms in their industry – droughts, floods, wildfires and price fluctuations, to name a few. But, the COVID-19 pandemic is posing unprecedented challenges for many of today’s producers. To help them through this daunting time, Extension offered free online updates and question-and-answer sessions with various experts.

Lindsay Chichester, Extension educator in Douglas County, Nevada, put together the series, “Agriculture: Living Beyond a Pandemic,” which began in spring 2020.

Known as “Dr. Lindsay” to many in the country’s agriculture industry and on social media, Chichester understands the ups and downs of farming and ranch life, growing up on a cattle and sheep ranch in northern California, and going on to earn a master’s degree in animal science and a doctorate in agricultural sciences. Lindsay said this is truly a baffling time for many of the nation’s agricultural producers.

Lindsay Chichester

Story by Tiffany Kozsan

COVID-19 has forced many meat processing plants to close, making it difficult for those with small ranches to prepare their meat to sell and causing a shortage of meat for consumers. In addition, food pantries have seen a 30% increase in demand for fresh fruits and vegetables due to unemployment caused by the pandemic. With the local food industry suffering from the decreased supply and increased demand, the University’s Experiment Station, part of the College, stepped up to the proverbial dinner plate to help producers stay in business and consumers get the food they need.

 Story by Tiffany Kozsan

Extension's Grow Your Own, Nevada! Program teaches community members and backyard gardeners how to choose appropriate fruit and vegetable varieties; compost and maintain healthy soil; and grow, harvest and preserve produce to provide residents with locally grown, healthy food.

Story by Claudene Wharton

In March 2020, faculty of the College gathered personal protective equipment from their labs and delivered the items to their colleagues at the University's School of Medicine (UNR Med). The supplies were much needed for the COVID-19 testing medical students perform at the School’s University Health internal medicine practice in Reno, and for other care UNR Med and University Health clinical operations provide across the state.

Story by Claudene Wharton

When the Elko County Emergency Operations Center put in a call to their local University of Nevada, Reno Extension office saying they needed face masks, Extension’s 4-H youth and their families swung into action, making masks not only for the Operations Center, but also for their local School District nutrition services workers who are helping to serve lunches to students who receive free and reduced meals. Similarly, 4-H youth and their families in White Pine County were early responders to the need for masks, and have now made hundreds of masks for the William Bee Ririe Hospital and Rural Health Clinic in Ely.

Once the word got out that 4-Hers were helping to make masks, more requests started coming in.

"I’d say that requests are coming in faster than our 4-H members can sew," said Jill Baker-Tingey, Extension educator in Elko County.

Story by Molly Malloy

Families with limited resources were hit especially hard during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the College’s Extension unit at its A.D. Guy Knowledge Center in North Las Vegas worked harder than ever to ensure that it fulfilled the needs of the economically challenged community it serves. The Center, created in collaboration with the Clark County Commission, Extension and the Southern Nevada Housing Authority to provide much-needed programming and educational support to the area, focused much of its work in 2020 on providing resources for families and keeping youth engaged during COVID restrictions.

Throughout the summer, the Center, in partnership with Vegas PBS, offered 4-H Summer Adventures: Family Camp at Home to provide fun, science-based activities that could be completed at home. Each week, parents from seven families with 15 children came to the Center to pick up the science kits. The families later connected on Facebook to watch how to complete the activities and share their completed projects.

The Center also offered a virtual series called 4-H: Building Youth for the Future, which focused on topics that support personal development for youth, including career planning, financial literacy, communications and civic engagement. The four classes reached 31 participants.

Perhaps the most appreciated assistance the Center provided came as the Clark County School District remained closed for in-person learning as the 2020 school year began. To help students’ success in their virtual school learning, the Center developed its Space for Connectivity Program, which provided free Wi-Fi and computer access, along with in-person support for virtual learning for students. At least 41 students from 16 families registered, and the space averaged 10 students per day.

Story by Tiffany Kozsan

Even with stay-at-home orders in place, families and youth can engage in a number of educational and service activities online to enhance their daily lives and help themselves, and others, through these challenging days. Amid the COVID-19 outbreak, Extension faculty, staff and volunteers have been hard at work to bring educational workshops, programs and resources useful during this time, into Nevadans’ homes.

Here are a few of those offerings.

 Story by Tiffany Kozsan

Extension's Let's Discover STEM Program in Washoe and Clark Counties was ready to begin their next series of STEM sessions for families with young children. But when the shelter-in-place restrictions were implemented, the team had to rethink how to engage the families and meet their needs.

In Washoe, team members began by reaching out to prior program participants to see if they were interested in doing a STEM activity at home with their children, and if they were willing to accept provided materials.

"The response was incredible," Lizeth Barroeta, program instructor, said. "It got us thinking that this would be totally possible."

The team worked with interested families to select sessions and materials specific to the children's interest – everything from dinosaurs to life science to famous works of art. Team members then dropped the materials off at the families' doors.

One of the most commonly chosen sessions was how parents could introduce their children to museums. Families received the book, "Eric and Julieta at the Museum," links to virtual museum tours and materials to create their own museum at home.