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Hey 2020 IRISH Grads...check out the billboard on Niagara St celebrating you, the ND Class of 2020. Take a pic in front of it in your Grad Gown and tag @notredameadmin and @ndirishcouncil #IRISHproud but, be safe and maintain social distance please!
by Kris Dubé The Welland Tribune - June 2, 2020
Graduate Mateus Vieira-McGuire, front, along with staff members Amanda Lamb, Lukas Cvancara is one of the 240 Notre Dame College School graduates who had a congratulatory sign placed on Notre Dame College School graduate Gillian Jansen and her parents David and Monique Jansen.
Kathryn Atherton and Cesare Oliverio.
their yards Monday by staff from the Welland high school. 
Graduating high school is an accomplishment that should not go unrecognized.
That's why 50 Notre Dame College School staff broke into small groups Monday to deliver 240 signs to the homes of students who would have been accepting their diplomas at Meridian Community Centre in Fonthill on June 24 if the COVID-19 pandemic hadn't turned their world upside down.
The signs congratulate the class of 2020 and read: A Proud Irish Grad Lives Here.
A similar billboard on Niagara Street will also recognize graduates in the coming days, said principal Ken Griepsma.
Students would also be attending a breakfast, mass and prom around the same time as the planned ceremony that was nixed several weeks ago.
"A lot of the milestones they would have experienced toward the end of their Grade 12 year couldn't happen because of the situation," said Griepsma on Tuesday.
The Welland high school couldn't sit still and not do something to acknowledge their achievements, the principal said.
"These kids haven't really been recognized because we can't get in person," said Griepsma, adding that prom and a formal graduation ceremony are being planned for October.
May 08, 2020 by Grant LaFlecheThe St. Catharines Standard
The impact of 12 hours in a New York City emergency room treating COVID-19 patients are etched into Dr. Julia Iafrate's face.
The whites of her eyes are laced with red, her mascara smudged. Deep, dark grooves run over her cheeks and the bridge of her nose — the mark of the mask that keeps the novel coronavirus at bay.
The hours are long at New York Presbyterian Hospital. Twelve hours a shift in the heart of America's COVID-19 epicentre. There is, Iafrate said, a silence that surrounds the dying that is unnerving.
"Many times patients are intubated as soon as they arrive," said the St. Catharines-born doctor. "These are patients who are often on ventilators and cannot communicate with you. It is very quiet and, honestly, that can be unsettling."
Iafrate has seen many patients die. By Thursday, the death toll in New York City had risen to nearly 19,000. And she has seen many of her colleagues suffering post-traumatic stress brought on by the unending pressure.
But fighting the virus isn't the only battle Iafrate faces. While she toils in the ER, Iafrate's lawyer is fighting to keep her in her adopted country. Last week, the United States government rejected Iafrate's Green Card application on grounds she does not provide a service in the national interest.
"It was pretty shocking. I was blindsided," said Iafrate, who has lived and worked in the U.S. for 13 years with an education that includes a residency at the Mayo Clinic.
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