Kaweah Delta puts up tents to expand and improve its COVID-19 testing capabilities
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Kaweah Delta puts up tents to expand and improve its COVID-19 testing capabilities
VISALIA – Kaweah Delta has put up three tents to expand capacity
and further improve the safety of COVID-19 testing for Tulare County residents.
Three tents, up since Friday, are available to assist Kaweah Delta in collecting
specimens, a nasal swab, from people who Tulare County Public Health wants
tested for COVID-19. Kaweah Delta is setting up a larger tent near the
Emergency Department as well.
Tents are used by appointment only, when approved by Tulare County Public
Health. Appointments take just a few minutes and allow individuals to
return home to wait for results from Tulare County Public Health. Once
the County approves individuals for testing, Kaweah Delta schedules the
appointment and notifies individuals of the location for their test.
“This is a proactive measure we took to expand our screening capabilities
and to further protect patients, staff and our community,” said
Gary Herbst, Kaweah Delta’s Chief Executive Officer. “This
is another step we are taking to keep possible COVID-19 patients away
from people who do not have the virus, but we need our community’s
help, too.”
People should not walk up to these tents, into a medical office, or into
a hospital if think they should be tested for COVID-19. Instead, people
who have been exposed to a confirmed COVID-19 person or to a person who
is under investigation for COVID-19, should do the following:
- Call their physician for directions; or
- Call the Tulare County Public Health line, 2-1-1
- If you are experiencing severe respiratory distress or fever, proceed to
the closest emergency department, but call ahead, do not just walk in.
If coming to Kaweah Delta’s Emergency Department, call ahead to
559-624-2862, do not walk into the ED.
The larger tent near the ED is one that Kaweah Delta has used before to
expand its Emergency Department waiting area during cold and flu seasons.
It will be set up as a fully operable "room" which includes
electricity, HVAC, and various supplies. It will be well-lit and rain-proof.
Patients inside the tent will be monitored by staff.
Kaweah Delta has a dedicated team that works on infection prevention measures
year-round, but established a dedicated task force in February that has
been meeting regularly to help Kaweah Delta improve its plan as COVID-19
has evolved. Additionally, it has activated an incident command center
in the Medical Center that is being staffed 24/7 to ensure that the organization
can immediately respond to any situations that may arise. Senior administrative
and clinical leaders will be staffing this command center. They are in
frequent contact with Tulare County Health & Human Services, local
hospitals, and other local healthcare providers to coordinate our responses
to evolving community needs.
Kaweah Delta has taken a number of measures to put the health and safety
of patients and visitors first. They include limiting patients to one
visitor (children cannot visit) across the healthcare district (all others
must wait outside buildings), except for at its skilled nursing program,
where no visitors are allowed except for end-of-life patients. Additionally,
Kaweah Delta implemented temporary entrance changes that will limit the
number of people going into areas where patients may be present. It has
also cancelled all public events, removed volunteers from its sites, cancelled
business travel, and asked its more than 5,000 employees to cancel internal
meetings planned for 14 or more individuals 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.