METHUEN Schyla Wante stood in her living room and marked a major life accomplishment: graduating from UMass medical schoolin a virtual ceremony.<\/p>\n
\"Our graduation was supposed to be May 31. We graduated exactly two months early,\" said Wante, 27, a Methuen native.<\/p>\n
While she had planned to take some down time and travel to Nice and Croatia with friends, Wante is beingdeployed to the front lines of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n
\"The need is there. We are hoping to take the burden off the health care system and take the burden off people who are being overworked,\" said Wante, a 2011 graduate of Central Catholic High School in Lawrence.<\/p>\n
Gov. Charlie Baker allowed Massachusetts medical students to graduate early so they can help tens of thousands people across the state infected with COVID-19.<\/p>\n
Wante previously thought she'd work in an emergency department. Now that training is fast-tracked, she expects to be placed in one of five hospitals affiliated with the University of Massachusetts.<\/p>\n
\"I never expected to graduate under these type of circumstances,\" Wante said.<\/p>\n
She said the situation is \"nerve-racking,\" but she also has some \"nervous excitement\" about stepping into the medical world so suddenly.<\/p>\n
\"I really want to do anything I can to help,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Schyla is the daughter of Laura and Mark Wante and has a younger sister, Jennifer, 24.<\/p>\n
Her sister was diagnosed with diabetes at a \"really young age,\" which was a driving factor in Schyla's interest in medicine, she said.<\/p>\n
She previously volunteered in hospice care and as medical scribe at Lawrence General Hospital from 2015 to 2016.<\/p>\n
She also has a strong interest in global health issues and education. In February, along with other medical students, she traveled to Peru to treat tuberculosis and longstanding HIV positive patients.<\/p>\n
While away she was keeping an eye on COVID-19 and the path the virus was taking across the globe. She never expected it to come to this, she said.<\/p>\n
It's a very \"solemn time\" in medicine right now, she said. \"But I do feel this a responsibility we have,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Follow staff reporter Jill Harmacinski on Twitter @EagleTribJill.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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After early graduation, med student joins the battle - Eagle-Tribune<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" METHUEN Schyla Wante stood in her living room and marked a major life accomplishment: graduating from UMass medical schoolin a virtual ceremony. Continue reading