UVA Health now providing COVID-19 testing for Augusta Health

Augusta Health is now working with UVA Health for COVID-19 testing, with UVA providing testing for inpatients and healthcare workers as needed.

Augusta Health has relationships with Quest and EGL for testing of outpatients for COVID-19, and continues to work on engaging new labs for testing kit supplies and testing.

Best practices update

A best practice approach is a public health strategy or solution that is effective at impacting a problem.

Some best practices that Augusta Health has already implemented in the community to reduce the spread of COVID-19:

• The COVID Care Call Center allows patients to connect with trained medical professional nurses to discuss their concerns and symptoms without leaving their homes. The nurses can provide advice, direction and referral as needed. So far, Augusta Health nurses in the COVID Care Call Center have answered more than 400 calls and screened more than 250 on the phone. Others called for information or other reasons.
• The COVID-19 Assessment Center at the Waynesboro Urgent Care provides the opportunity to evaluate and treat all outpatients with respiratory symptoms at one central location in the community. Those seeing physicians in offices or clinics for other medical issues avoid contact with the respiratory illness.
• Similarly, Augusta Health has opened a dedicated respiratory unit within the hospital to care for inpatients with respiratory symptoms. This is a specific area away from those with other medical diagnoses. This area has negative pressure capacity. Although there are currently no patients diagnosed with COVID-19 on the unit, it can care for any patient with respiratory symptoms.

Augusta Health has worked hard to implement these best practice strategies early in order to reduce the impact and incidence of COVID-19 in the community.

Community donations update

The hospital reports having received phone calls and emails from pastors, church sewing groups, local employers and businesses, dentist offices, residents, nonprofit organizations, and others offering to provide needed supplies, personal protective equipment, and food for our staff. Augusta Health team members are most grateful for this support and overwhelmed by this outreach.

Augusta Health is confident of its current supply of personal protective equipment, but based on the experience of other communities, welcome these donations as it prepares for the future.

A sampling of some of the donations we’ve received this week:

• An entire pallet of Hershey’s Easter candy for staff enjoyment from The Hershey Company
• Pizza, soda and water from Staunton’s Domino’s, Kroger and Sheets
• New, boxed N95 masks from local woodworkers
• Dentist offices sending ear-looped medical masks
• Disposable gowns, masks, soap and hand-sanitizer from Blue Ridge Community College
• Dust masks and disposable gowns from Cadence
• 16,000 ear-looped masks from Hershey Chocolate in Stuarts Draft
• Two boxes of N95 masks from Spring Hill Presbyterian Church in Staunton
• Surgical masks, gloves and procedure masks from Church on the Hill in Fishersville

Please call or email the Augusta Health Foundation before coming to Augusta Health if you or your business have these supplies on hand and are willing to donate them to support Augusta Health. The Foundation’s Office can be reached at: (540) 332-5174 or [email protected].