As the Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine closes its campus to students, faculty and staff — with exception granted for essential employees — no person has proven to be more essential than the college’s Day Porter, Shari Widaman.

A one-woman powerhouse, Widaman alone is responsible for ensuring the 94,000 square foot facility looks immaculate and inviting at all times, in addition to her routine cleaning maintenance.

“Shari doesn’t have the luxury of working from home. You can’t disinfect tables or take out the trash via teleconference,” said Chris Wilson, Director of Facilities at ICOM. “She’s the hardest working employee at ICOM and we are so fortunate to have her.”

Every weekday, Widaman cleans the bathrooms, sweeps the halls, vacuums carpeted areas and disinfects the surfaces touched the most, such as door handles and railings.

Amid fears due to the progression of the novel coronavirus in Idaho, Widaman has amped up her cleaning measures in all classrooms, conference rooms, simulation rooms, the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) suite and osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM) lab.

“All floors, hard surfaces, blinds and chairs have been deep cleaned and sanitized,” Widaman said. “We’ve even installed more hand sanitizer dispensers around the building, too.”

COVID-19 can linger on various surfaces for hours or possibly days, making deep cleaning all the more important.

To assist Widaman in executing an intensified custodial plan, Wilson arranged to provide her with an extra pair of hands. Andrew Bond, a member of the custodial crew at Veritas Maintenance, has been on campus for the past few weeks to help where needed.

“Shari and Andrew have been hard at work cleaning and disinfecting our building according to recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” Wilson said. “It may be a while before students, faculty and staff are able to return to campus but when they do, they’ll come back to a fully sanitized building.”