Advocate program helps employees, students adjust to new health protocols

Maintaining the health and safety of every member of the UB community is of paramount importance as they return to campus amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

To ensure that students, faculty and employees are well-informed about UB’s new health and safety guidelines, a group of faculty and staff advocates is being recruited to serve as a source of information to promote the university’s expectations for reopening.

According to Mark Coldren, associate vice president for human resources, the goal of the advocates is to “create a positive presence to help folks through their adjustment of their behaviors to be on campus and to help everyone talk about reinforcing the behaviors without fear of confrontation.”

The advocates are being recruited via Human Resources’ communications. A call was also put out through UBNow and UB Forward, Coldren says. In addition, the news is being communicated through e-newsletters and the UB website.

Members of the Wellness and Work/Life Balance division of Human Resources, including Amy Myszka, director of benefits and work/life balance, as well as Peter Logiudice, Abbey Delaney and Michele Poitras, created training materials that will be used to familiarize the advocates with their roles and responsibilities.

Their primary function will be to encourage the “big three” — mask-wearing, physical distancing and hand-washing. Advocates will also provide directions to nearby hand sanitizer stations and temperature stations.

The advocates are part of an overarching communication strategy called “Together, we are UB,” which is designed to maximize awareness about COVID-19 prevention among all members of the UB community. Other communication pieces include a centralized website, signage and one-to-one conversations.

The goal is to create a “culture of compliance,” and to respectfully engage non-compliant community members in a conversation about the importance of adhering to the new guidelines. The aim, according to the training packet, is cooperation rather than enforcement.

The advocate training will provide suggested scripts for talking to people who are not wearing masks, not physically distancing or not washing their hands. All trainings will be virtual, Myszka explains.

The training packet urges respectfulness and politeness, and cautions advocates to be direct and clear, and not to take negative responses personally.

“We are looking to foster a community of compliance and cooperation, with the focus being concern for members of the UB community,” Myszka says.

Employees interested in becoming an advocate should send an email to wellness@buffalo.edu.