Wear a mask! Western New Yorkers make a video that sends the critical message

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Most New Yorkers know that when they’re in public, they should wear a mask, but as anyone who’s been outside lately knows, it’s a message that bears repeating.

That was the idea behind New York State’s “Wear a Mask” video contest, started by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. The purpose was to solicit 30-second videos from around the state that would convey why it’s important to wear a mask. The winning video will be used as a Public Service Announcement.

In less than a week, an enthusiastic collection of Western New Yorkers, all of whom are already performing essential tasks in the community, got together to make and submit a video to the statewide contest.

“Our video is an effort to try to pay homage to the people in Buffalo that are helping the community,” explained Natalia Crenesse-Cozien, a student in the Class of 2021 in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo, who during the pandemic makes deliveries with fellow medical students to food-insecure families served by Buffalo Public Schools (BPS).

Crenesse-Cozien helped coordinate the video with Melinda Sanderson, director of upstate mentoring for the New York State Mentoring Program. She knew Sanderson through the Jacobs School’s partnership with the mentoring program, which was founded by the governor’s mother, Matilda Cuomo. The program matches medical and college students with local elementary and middle schools to provide supportive, mentoring one-on-one relationships to students.

The videographer was Aaron Sing Bola, MD, who just graduated from the Jacobs School and who starts his residency in New York City at New York University this summer.

In true Queen City fashion, the Buffalo video submission came together as a cooperative venture. It features medical students from the Jacobs School, Erie County Medical Center (ECMC) doctors and nurses, cashiers from Wegmans, a Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority driver, a BPS nutrition services worker and a beloved Jacobs School security guard from Wisdom Protective Services.

“We wanted to find a way to portray the message without sounding condescending, to show people this is how to keep our community safe,” said Crenesse-Cozien. “With COVID-19 specifically, you can be asymptomatic and carry it and pass it on. And there are people in our community who are immunocompromised. Honestly, we don’t totally understand who is most at risk. So when you choose not to wear a mask you are not making a choice for yourself, you are making a choice for every other person you come in contact with.”

The 30-second video begins with an ECMC surgeon (Matthew Chang, a first-year UB surgical resident) surrounded by other physicians, nurses and operating room technicians. He says the mask is part of his daily routine. “Make it part of yours,” he says. The remainder of the video focuses on people talking about the people in their lives that they wear masks for.

They include a BPS employee who provides food to BPS families (“To keep our kids safe”); an NFTA driver (“To transport essential workers”); a Jacobs School security guard (“To keep the students safe”); a Jacobs School student and student mentor at Futures Academy (“For my mentees’ dreams”); and two Wegmans employees (“To feed our community.”)

The final shot shows a group of nurses at ECMC thanking people for wearing masks.

Although the Western New York video didn’t make it into the final round of the statewide contest, its creators are sharing it widely on social media. Voting closes May 25 and the winner will be announced the following day.

Additional assistance on the video was provided by David Milling, MD, senior associate dean for student and academic affairs in the Jacobs School; Renee Mapp, UB Science and Technology Entry Program Coordinator; and James Lukan, MD, director of the vascular access center at ECMC, who also initiated the BPS food delivery program.