Alumna Establishes Meals for Medics in Scranton

In mid-March, Alyssa Muchisky '16, a medical student at the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, and many other third and fourth-year medical students around the country were pulled from their clinical rotations due to the lack of personal protective equipment. 

"We knew the strain this pandemic would put on our country's hospital systems, and we felt powerless because we could not help our colleagues on the frontlines," she recounted. "A bunch of third-year students got together and brainstormed ways we could support our hospitals from afar, and that is when we came up with the idea of Meals for Medics."

The group of students, along with Scranton Tomorrow, founded Meals for Medics, which raises money to buy hot meals from local restaurants for health care workers at Geisinger Community Medical Center.  They are delivered to the hospital by the medical students. On April 23, they delivered more than 300 meals to third shift staff who work at night. 

"All of us have worked shifts in the hospitals that are hectic and unpredictable. Sometimes hospital workers have as little as five minutes to quickly eat before moving on to the next task," said Muchisky. "We wanted to provide readily available nutritious options for all hospital staff during this time."

Muchisky, a Scranton native, is glad to be able to help her community during the pandemic. 

"This project is really near and dear to me because its a small way I can give back to a community that has already done so much for me," she said.