As the number of COVID-19-related cases continues to climb in Milam County, officials of a couple of clinics in Thorndale and Rockdale have listed the way their institutions are handling the testing situation.
COUNTRY MEADOWS—Courtney Paulsen, nurse-practitioner at Country Meadows Clinic, said about 40 persons have been tested for COVID-19 at that facility. “Tests are performed
“Tests are performed using a collection swab at the back of the nose or back of the throat and sputum can be collected in a cup for analysis,” she said.
Paulsen said results usually take 7-10 days.
“Most often a flu test is performed first and, if negative, a COVID-19 test will be collected,” she said.
Patients are placed on a two-week quarantine while awaiting results and are given ER precautions if they develop symptoms like severe shortness of breath, chest pain or uncontrollable fever, according to Paulsen.
“There are no drivethrough testing sites in Milam County,” she said. Country Meadows is NOT allowing anyone that has had the following inside the clinic:
• Anyone with cough, shortness of breath, fever or other respiratory symptoms currently or within the last 28 days.
• Anyone with close contact with a laboratory-confirmed positive COVID-19 patient or someone under quarantine for suspected COVID-19 within the last 28 days.
• Anyone that has been in the ER or hospital within the last 28 days.
“We are still treating and seeing patients that are sick, but we are seeing those outside the clinic in our parking lot,” she said. (See page 1A.)
“Please do not show up unannounced and please be open and honest about your health and possible exposure(s),” Paulsen said.
While Country Meadows is able to test patients, it is not a designated “testing site, Paulsen said.
“We are not receiving any help from governmental agencies or labs. We have a relationship with two private labs that can perform testing,” she added. “Those who qualify for testing are on a case-by-case basis and decided by the provider during an appointment.”
HEALTHPOINT—Eric Todd of HealthPoint, which operates a St. Joseph/CHI clinic on the former Richards Memorial Hospital campus, said that facility’s response is complex.
“Our focus is to mitigate the expansion of this virus by reducing face-to-face exposure,” he said.
To that end about 50 percent of the clinic’s face-toface visits are to telehealth,” he said. “Many will be by phone calls, others by video app. It’s in the initial experimental phase.”
He said the Rockdale facility is “postponing all well visits—essentially checkups—except for children under 5 and pre-natal. Pediatrics remains open.
“But there is a significant list of diagnoses which will fall immediately to be seen face-to-face,” he said.
As for testing, that’s much nuanced. Todd said for the general population a request for a COVID-19 would probably result in a referral to St. Joseph’s in Bryan.
But Todd said the local clinic would test for clinically-registered patients who screen for COVID-19 symptoms.
MORE—Monette Schweitzer, Rural Health Nurse PNP, told The Reporter she had tested a couple of patients in her mobile practice and was available by Facebook to her patients.
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