Looking back, moving forward: Success story not over for COVID-19 test site

Early 2020 found Erin Barrett in a familiar role: reviewing glycemic tests and consulting with WVU Medicine care teams at J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital on patients with diabetes and blood sugar-related issues as a representative of the in-house WVU Medicine Diabetes Education Center.

But like many other healthcare professionals, Barrett would be called upon to tap into new skills as the COVID-19 pandemic began to take a hold on the global population. In response to the pandemic, she was assigned by Mary Fanning, assistant vice president/associate chief nursing officer, to lead a COVID-19 testing site from a tent near WVU Medicine-University Town Centre (UTC). On March 17, Barrett conducted a dry run to see how things would go. The next day, real patients arrived.

One year and 23,724 swabs later, the tent is gone, replaced in late 2020 by a garage with two bays for drive-in patients and a trailer for providers to use between swabs, but Barrett remains.

“Mary said my name came to her in a dream,” Barrett said of her now year-long role.

The ability of WVU Medicine staff to cross professional lines and lend skills during the crisis is a characteristic that WVU Medicine leaders, including Fanning, genuinely appreciate. Barrett is not a fish out of water – she spent 12 years as a bedside nurse in pediatrics. But like many WVU Medicine employees, she accepted her new assignment in the spirit of WVU Medicine’s patient-first mission. The journey and success of the testing site has been a prime example of that spirit.

“The team work has been incredible, with people helping from multiple clinical and support areas, from Security helping with traffic control, to Facilities Management re-locating us and Planning, Design and Construction building a permanent structure,” Fanning said. “The staff who were re-assigned made the transition quickly.”

The rotation of staff at the site includes pre- and post-op nurses, and nurses from a variety of clinics, Student Health and the Resource Pool. During surges, the site has had as many as a dozen employees on hand. There were five on-site on March 17, including a non-clinical professional recording patient data.

Patients came at a trickle last March but have ebbed and flowed in the ensuring months as surges occur. The highest number of swabs in one day (332) and one hour (41) occurred on July 6. The busiest months of 2020 were December and July with an average of 138 and 133 tests being done daily, respectively.

Although vaccinations continue at a rapid pace in West Virginia and around the country, and the patient flow at the site has dipped lately, Barrett doesn’t see the site shutting down any time soon. Patients scheduled for surgery are still swabbed as part of pre-operative procedure and healthcare professionals agree that it’s still too early to ignore the threat of the virus, particularly as variants surface. Even after vaccination, the precautions of mask-wearing, social distancing, and hand washing are still recommended as is swabbing for those who think they may have the virus. Protection has also been a constant at the site as the best personal protective equipment and disposable gowns are used during patient interactions and thorough scrubbing is a constant after each patient visit.

But the demographic and busy times at the site have changed slightly, according to Barrett.

“We used to get most of our patients early in the morning but now we see a lot between 4-6 p.m.,” she said. “There are screenings being done at Mon County schools and at WVU so anyone who gets red-flagged has to get a test. So we’re getting more school-aged children and college students.”

But on its one-year anniversary, the purpose of the site remains unchanged.

“This was another way that WVU Medicine can fulfill its mission to serve the community,” Fanning said, “and I’m really proud of way things came together at the test site. It’s a credit not just to Erin and our nurses but to our professionals across the board -- team members from the UTC; Population Health; Infection Control; Laboratory; Supply Chain; Facilities; Planning, Design and Construction; Security; and Landscaping for their support over the past year.”

For a photo gallery of images from March 2020 (first three) and March 17, 2021, click here.