Kaweah Delta announces street closure for COVID-19 testing, limits elective surgery
Kaweah Delta announces street closure for COVID-19 testing, limits elective surgery
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AQUÍ.
VISALIA – Starting next week, the City of Visalia will close a small
city block to improve safety for Tulare County residents coming to Kaweah
Delta for COVID-19 testing.
Effective Tuesday, March 31, Floral Street in downtown Visalia will close
to traffic one block north of Kaweah Delta Medical Center (between Main
Street and Acequia Avenue). The closure will allow Tulare County residents,
who the Tulare County Public Health Department would like tested for COVID-19,
to drive down the block in their cars and park in the diagonal parking
spaces on the street’s west side. Kaweah Delta staff will collect
specimens from these individuals. Kaweah Delta does not do testing; specimens
are sent to the Tulare County Public Health Laboratory, which conducts
testing to determine whether an individual is positive for COVID-19.
“We want to make this experience as easy as possible for people,
many of whom are not feeling well and are anxious. The street will also
allow us to potentially expand testing should the need arise,” said
Mary Laufer, Director of Nursing Practice at Kaweah Delta, noting that
the street’s diagonal parking can accommodate more individuals to
be swabbed simultaneously.
The City of Visalia approved the street’s closure. Kaweah Delta first
set up tents outside of the Medical Center on March 13 to collect specimens
from people suspected of having COVID-19.
The sites are also being used to screen those individuals who are making
use of Kaweah Delta’s new, free COVID-19 screening hotline at 559-624-4110.
Individuals who call receive a same-day appointment with a nurse practitioner
who assess by phone whether they have COVID-19 symptoms. Anyone can use
the hotline, but people with primary care physicians should call their
physician for an assessment first.
Elective Surgery
Kaweah Delta has taken a number of measures to put the health and safety
of patients and visitors first. To promote safety, particularly in an
effort to preserve personal protective equipment – face masks, gowns,
gloves, and to ensure that Kaweah Delta can meet any additional demands
due to increases in COVID-19 patient volumes, Kaweah Delta is also asking
surgeons to reschedule elective surgeries whenever possible. “We,
like other hospitals, have experienced shortages in our supply, so it’s
important that we use personal protective equipment when the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention says it’s appropriate,” said
Gary Herbst, Kaweah Delta’s Chief Executive Officer. “It’s
important that we must exercise great prudence and be disciplined in our
use of personal protective equipment,”
Additionally, Kaweah Delta has instituted a no-visitor policy, is screening
patients outside of its Emergency Department for COVID-19 symptoms, is
limiting entrances to the hospital, has cancelled all public events, has
removed volunteers from its sites, has cancelled all business travel,
and has asked employees to use teleconferencing or online meetings for
internal meetings.
Kaweah Delta will continue to share COVID-19 information and regular updates
with the community on its website at
www.kaweahdelta.org/COVID19, via media statements, and on its social media accounts.
Tulare County Health & Human Services Agency advises if you think you
have been exposed to COVID-19 and develop a fever and symptoms of respiratory
illness, such as cough or difficulty breathing, please call your primary
physician or 2-1-1 rather than walking into a medical office or hospital.
Your physician will connect with Tulare County Public Health to determine
if testing is appropriate. #