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Left of COVID: A Collaborative Strategy to Opening and Staying Open

By Brian DiSabatino • April 24, 2020 • 3 MIN READ

EDiS Company has partnered with ChristianaCare to get the word out on a new program that will help companies in the construction industry monitor the health and wellness of their staff and their jobsites.


Crisis?  The first of two lessons we’ve learned from our neighbors in the military is that we’ve been here before.  We are all too familiar with the devastating effects that Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) have on the human, psychological, and financial well-being of our country, our young warriors, and their families. In response, the military created a strategy to deal with the danger not at the point of devastation, but before the threat emerged. They targeted the financing, creation, and distribution of these horrific devices in a strategy they called “Left of Boom.”  The idea was to interrupt the crisis by getting to the source, never allowing the IEDs to be planted in the first place. 

Today we are experiencing a battle of epic proportion. At the point of devastation, we are seeing the toll on the elderly, the disenfranchised, the healthcare and first responder communities, and every facet of our economy. The entire world is under siege. And while it is important to address the problem at the point of the devastation (in our senior centers, in our poor neighborhoods, and our communities), we need to quickly pivot to being “Left of COVID.”

I’ve had the privilege to see the construction industry understand their role, as an essential business, to model this practice. Each road, home, and building project has become a laboratory for new ideas and showing startling success.  As an example of getting Left of COVID, at EDiS we have been implementing weekly work stoppages and educational sessions so that, regardless of your native language, we are reminded of the COVID symptoms and when NOT to report to work.  Our subcontractors have honored this practice and supported members of their teams who were concerned enough to raise their hands with suspicious symptoms and, although not presenting conclusive symptoms, voluntarily decided to self-quarantine. This level of education, proactivity, and support of workers should now be a model for all those about to reenter the workforce. We need you to help us all stay Left of COVID. 

This week we are honored to have formed a partnership with ChristianaCare to get WAY Left of COVID. The focus of our partnership is to create contact with each individual worker so that they are reminded about the symptoms daily and have a personal resource with whom to discuss concerns, before getting into the car to work. While leaning into innovation, ChristianaCare has developed a symptom monitoring program that reaches workers through texting and telephone contact every day. This relationship gives the worker a secure and direct line of communication daily, with trained practitioners. This relationship will help detect problems before anyone heads out to the crowded workplace.  The best way to create a healthy and crisis free workplace is to head off the devastating impact before it arrives. 

Together we must recognize that we are all essential. Let’s open this economy smartly and safely, paving the way to the prosperity we had been enjoying prior. Let’s get Left of COVID. 

Oh, the second lesson? Hire more personnel from the military. They make great leaders.

For more information, contact ChristianaCare at:

Nicole Bodnar, VP, Business Development, ChristianaCare, (856) 649-6637

Nicole.J.Bodnar@ChristianaCare.org