North Central College is partnering with the City of Naperville to provide a safe space to quarantine first responders who may have been exposed to coronavirus.
Geiger Hall
The college is opening up Geiger Hall to police, fire, EMT, and other city employees who do not want to expose family members to the virus.
“When we began to get into this pandemic situation I made it clear to my leadership team that we were going to search for opportunities to serve the community in whatever way that we could,” said North Central College President Dr. Troy Hammond.
Rooms for Up to 40 People
The dormitory can house up to 40 people in single accommodations. There are no current students living in the residence hall. Dr. Hammond said all but about 50 students have left campus and the college has consolidated them into one dorm.
Geiger Hall will be available to city employees immediately.
Organizations Coming Together
“It’s just representative of our city, our community, that people and organizations come together in these times to support each other and that’s exactly what North Central College is doing by allowing us to create this agreement and this joint partnership to help our first responders,” said Linda LaCloche, communications manager for the City of Naperville.
Dr. Hammond also said the college is having conversations with other entities, including hospitals, that might want to use their facilities in a similar manner.
“North Central College is an integral part of the Naperville community,” said Dr. Hammond. “And this is just for us an obvious opportunity for us to collaborate and serve the city of Naperville in a way that can help our first responders have a safe place to get well and get back to what they do best in serving our community. If we can help with that, that’s something that we’re thrilled to be able to do.”
The city will follow CDC protocols to clean Geiger Hall when the building is no longer in use.
Naperville News 17’s Casey Krajewski reports.
If you have a story idea or news tip you want to share, we want to hear from you!
