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Fort Bliss leaders held a town hall Nov. 10, 2020, where they answered questions and encouraged strict adherence to health and safety precautions due to soaring virus numbers across the borderland.
The virtual event took place on the Fort Bliss, Texas Facebook page, where participants were asked to submit their questions in the comment section of the livestream. Maj. Gen. Sean Bernabe, senior commander of the 1st Armored Division and Fort Bliss, hosted the event and opened it by explaining the details of the public health emergency he declared Nov. 5.
“The main purpose of this declaration was really to posture William Beaumont Army Medical Center to provide care for Department of Defense beneficiaries and Veterans Administration beneficiaries,” he said.
Bernabe then turned the microphone over to the WBAMC Commander, Col. Mike Oshiki, who outlined the four ways the declaration helps health care workers respond to the current challenges they face.
“The first is the scope of practice and how we deliver care,” he said. “The public health emergency allows us to do more than we normally do when we take care of our patients.”
Oshiki said under the public health emergency, he has been able to expand WBAMC’s bed capacity to the VA portion of the main hospital, as well as partner with the VA to establish a mobile intensive care unit. These allow his providers to expand the number of patients they are able to care for during the pandemic.
The other advantages of the public health emergency declaration include: abbreviated documentation of care in patient medical records, which saves time and allows providers to see more patients; modified patient-staff ratios, because the demand for nurses is increased; and the ability to expedite the acceptance of additional health care professionals from outside of the local area who volunteer to work at WBAMC during the pandemic.
Oshiki said, “These are the things the public health emergency does for [William Beaumont Army Medical Center] and it allows us to respond to the increased demand for hospital beds throughout the city. Working together, we can flatten the curve that’s on the rise in our community.”
In addition to the public health emergency declaration, Bernabe said he and his leadership team continuously examine COVID-19 trends, and based on those trends, he also initiated the publication of a new amended “Come to Work Safe, Live Safe” general order, which was published Nov. 12.
“In reality, it doesn’t change a lot,” he said. “It essentially tells folks to abide by the new rules in El Paso. It does however, add a couple of stipulations. One, it further emphasizes mask wear and emphasizes the wearing of masks inside all vehicles when you are in the vehicle with people other than your family – and that’s for tactical military vehicles, personally-operated vehicles, etc.”
Bernabe said the new order also specifically addresses physical training, which will continue, just with greater distance between individuals who are completing strenuous, physical exercise. Based on guidance from medical professionals, Soldiers will now be 10 feet apart during PT. The amended order also states all PT equipment must be sanitized between uses and prohibits “round-robin physical training events.”
The amended order does not change the operational status of any on-post facilities or services, and Bernabe said he does not anticipate any substantive changes to the current restrictions, adding that he thinks the on-post restaurants and stores do a “very good job providing a safe environment for people to shop and dine.”
Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Williams, the 1st Armored Division and Fort Bliss command sergeant major, reiterated Bernabe’s focus on physical training, stating it is important for Soldier accountability and physical well-being.
Many of the questions from the virtual audience focused on quarantine requirements.
Bernabe addressed questions about new Fort Bliss families, as well as Soldiers returning from the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif. He said new families must only quarantine if coming from outside the continental United States and the Soldiers from NTC must only quarantine if they are COVID-positive or if they came into contact with someone who is COVID-positive.
Oshiki addressed exposure-based quarantine, citing the most-recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance.
“The latest CDC guidance says even if you are wearing a cloth face mask, and you are within six feet of somebody positive with COVID-19 for more than 15 minutes within a 24-hour period, that counts as a close contact,” he said. “That is why social distancing remains paramount, even if you are wearing a cloth face mask.”
Individuals identified by a public health professional or a medical professional as a close contact of someone who is positive with COVID-19 will be tested. If positive, they will be isolated and contact traced. If negative, they will go into exposure-based quarantine for two weeks from the time of exposure.
Another hot topic was leave – especially with the holidays on the horizon. Bernabe said leave approval is currently at the unit level, and he said he has asked his commanders at the battalion and brigade levels to put “additional scrutiny” on leave and travel requests to ensure they are mitigating risk about where Soldiers and families travel.
He ended the event with a request for help from the entire Fort Bliss community.
“We ask that you do your part,” he said. “We’ve done a very good job here on Fort Bliss and I ask that we continue that discipline – that cooperation – as we go forward and work together to flatten the curve. We’ll continue to watch the trend lines here and perhaps there will be an adjustment in posture as we go forward.”
| Date Taken: | 11.13.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 11.24.2020 12:26 |
| Story ID: | 383685 |
| Location: | EL PASO, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 71 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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