Kaweah Delta launches new COVID-19 phone screening hotline to keep community safe
Kaweah Delta launches new COVID-19 phone screening hotline to keep community safe
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AQUÍ.
VISALIA – Kaweah Delta has launched a new, free screening hotline
intended to assess people who may have COVID-19 symptoms from the safety
of their home to avoid the unnecessary exposure of themselves and others.
The free hotline allows an individual with COVID-19 symptoms, to schedule
a same-day appointment with a nurse practitioner. Nurse practitioners
call the individuals for a phone screening to determine if they need to
visit a COVID-19 testing site or medical facility.
“We’re trying to keep people who need to be out of waiting
rooms and public places quarantined in the comfort of their own home until
we can rule out COVID-19. We’re doing all of this to keep the community
safe,” said Ryan Gates, Kaweah Delta’s Vice President of Population
Health. “If the nurse practitioner determines that the person should
be tested for COVID-19, they will never even have to leave their car to
have a specimen collected.”
Anyone can call the hotline at (559) 624-4110, but people with primary
care physicians should call their physician for an assessment first. COVID-19
symptoms include the following within the last 14 days:
- Fever of 100.4 degree F (38 degree C) or higher
- Excessive dry cough
- Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
- Travel via plane, train, or cruise
- Exposure to someone with confirmed case of COVID-19.
“Many people have questions right now. This is a way for us to do
the right thing, while being a resource and keeping others safe,”
Gates said.
Kaweah Delta has taken a number of measures to put the health and safety
of patients and visitors first. They include institution of a no-visitor
policy, screening patients outside of its Emergency Department for COVID-19
symptoms, implementation of temporary entrances, cancelling all public
events, removing volunteers from its sites, cancelling all business travel,
and asking its more than 5,000 employees to cancel internal meetings and
use teleconferencing or online meetings instead.
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. #
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