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Paolo Mazzara moved to the United States from Italy with his family two years ago, according to Notre Dame, where he is an undergraduate student set to graduate in 2023. He has since been living with his family in Stamford while not attending classes in South Bend.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic struck nations across the globe - Italy and the United States among the hardest hit - Mazzara has taken his time away from the classroom to assist healthcare workers in his native country.
Mazzara has been securing personal protective equipment for Italian healthcare workers, where the system was overwhelmed after the virus attacked the country, while serving as a middle man “breaking down the language barrier that has at times slowed interactions with the World Health Organization,” according to an article posted by Notre Dame's The Advocate.
According to The Advocate, Mazzara was in Stamford when he overheard a phone conversation his mother was having with a friend who works at Zucchi Hospital, a facility in Milan, which has been at the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy.
Overhearing that phone call led to Mazzara jumping into action, helping translate and shuttle documents between healthcare workers and the World Health Organization, and procuring PPE for employees on the frontline battling COVID-19.
“The job brings them stress due to the fact they’re afraid of being infected,” Mazzara said to The Advocate, “but also it brings them stress because they’re afraid that once they’re home, they can also infect their family. Perhaps they may be young, and not show symptoms, but they have elders to take care of.
“We have doctors getting infected and dying at an alarming rate (in Italy),” he continued. “There’s already enough pressure on the healthcare system as it is with all the patients we have. If we also start losing healthcare workers, it’s going to be a never-ending cycle of not being able to give everyone the care that they deserve.”
A philosophy and global affairs major, Mazzara said that he hopes to get his fellow students involved in assisting the nation and globe during the pandemic.
“I hope I can get other students to help their communities or help where they can,” he said. “We all hope that this thing goes away quickly with the least amount of deaths, the least amount of damage to small businesses people rely on to sustain themselves.”
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