Photo By Twana Atkinson | Pfc. Casey Tebo, a medic in the Womack Urgent Care, performs a COVID-19 test on a...... read more read more
Womack Army Medical Center’s Urgent Care Clinic helps fight pandemic by operating as the Fort Bragg COVID-19 testing site.
The staff that is normally a group of nine and used to treating minor urgent care illness, came to work one day with a totally different mission.
“We literally left work one day as a UCC staff and came in to work the next day with a totally different mission,” said Jaime Weiss, the urgent care clinic head nurse.
The hospital staff jumped into a response posture, ready to serve their Fort Bragg community.
Nurses, medics, housekeeping, laboratory and radiology techs have come together under short notice to perform as the Fort Bragg COVID-19 testing team.
Womack radiology technicians have moved mobile x-ray machines into the dedicated hallway for testing.
This allows the patients that need further testing to receive it and not travel through the hospital, potentially exposing others, explained Weiss.
The Womack housekeeping staff has increased the cleaning and disposal requirements to remain within safety guidelines to prevent further exposure.
Everyone that enters a room is required to wear disposable personal protective equipment. The housekeeping staff are trained in the handling and cleaning of the environment.
There are also dedicated laboratory technicians from the within Womack that have been assigned solely to these duties.
“I’m so proud of the staff here,” said Weiss. Everyone adapted really well to the change and are very loyal to the mission and the patients.”
Womack has implemented COVID-19 screening procedures when entering the facility. If a patient has a positive screening at any of the three dedicated entrances, they will be escorted to the UCC for testing.
Once in the UCC, the patients are masked and taken to an isolation room for testing.
A patient will have one provider and/or one nurse assigned per room and anyone that enters the room will have their name entered onto a log.
“Depending on the age, and/or comorbities the patient will undergo one of two types of the COVID-19 testing,” said Weiss.
Currently the facility is using a nasal swab or nasal wash to test for COVID-19. Womack has had several confirmed COVID-19 patients tested in the facility.
“We all just went into this posture naturally, said Pfc. Casey Tebo, a medic in the UCC. “We did not necessarily train for this, but the training that we have allows us to adjust well and leap into the fight of this pandemic.”
Womack staff are also assisting in the drive-thru COVID-19 testing site located at the Fort Bragg parade field.
If you have experiencing any symptoms related to COVID-19, please call your primary care manager or (910) 907-2778 to make a virtual health appointment.
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| Date Taken: | 03.26.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 03.31.2020 13:14 |
| Story ID: | 366256 |
| Location: | FORT BRAGG, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 891 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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