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At the Hot Springs drive-thru, Clarence Taylor, seated right, prepares to receive a nasal swab in order to be tested for COVID-19.
Image by Bryan Clifton
UAMS Mobile Triage Brings COVID-19 Evaluations to Hot Springs Homeless and Hot Springs, Dumas Brinkley Drive-thru Clinics
| Homeless and jobless in Hot Springs, Clarence Taylor got something from the UAMS Triage Unit’s mobile team he has wanted for several weeks: screening and testing for COVID-19.
The team conducted drive-thru evaluations in Hot Springs on April 11, Dumas on April 12 and Brinkley on April 13 to assess whether residents in those areas might have the disease. A total of 265 patients were screened over the three days and 145 were tested.
Taylor was one of about 60 homeless people in Hot Springs who participated in a UAMS-staffed walk-up clinic near the drive-thru there. In coordination with UAMS, local organizations also offered free showers and a change of clean clothes to the homeless who took part.
“COVID-19 makes you kind of nervous,” Taylor said. “It’s better to be safe than sorry. I haven’t had any real symptoms. I had a cold a while back. I have chronic pancreatitis, and I’ve been hospitalized a few times for that, once recently. Testing will give me some piece of mind.”
Sally Carder, right, confers with Jennifer Hunt, M.D., second from right, just before the start of the COVID-19 drive-thru in Hot Springs.Image by Bryan Clifton
Taylor lost his job as a chef’s assistant and dishwasher in the kitchen of a Hot Springs hotel and then lost the apartment he shared with a roommate. He said he also was grateful for the clean clothes and the use of the portable shower trailer.
“We have worried and worried because if one person in our homeless camps gets it, it’s going to go through our camps like wildfire,” Sally Carder said. “Our homeless folks are very transient, walking all over the community. We felt like the chance for community spread would grow if we didn’t find out about the health status of our homeless folks. This will be reassuring to have that information. I’m very happy this drive-thru is happening.”
Carder is a retired college president who was asked by local leaders to coordinate the outreach effort to the city’s homeless population.
“Hot Springs, the city government, the county government, the Office of Emergency Services, those folks are all the heroes for this,” she said. “They came together to support this. We are all family here and work hard to make sure resources are provided, especially for our homeless population. We don’t have a shelter here. Most of our folks are on the street.”
Carder said she also appreciated the drive-thru for providing screening and testing to other underserved communities in Hot Springs that lack access to those services.
UAMS Police Chief Robert Barrentine, left, gives a thumbs up as Barbara McDonald, APRN, gives instructions to nurse and physician volunteers at the drive-thru in Brinkley.
At the drive-thru entrances in each city, residents are seen by one of the nurses then drive into the service areas in front of public buildings to be asked a series of screening questions by one of the UAMS physicians on site. Their condition and answers determined if they need testing. The swabs are performed by experienced nurses and medics from the National Guard who obtain a specimen with from the back part of the nose.
The samples are taken back to UAMS for processing and follow-up with the patients with their results in a couple of days. No patient had to get out of their vehicle, and all the screeners were wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) such as masks, eye protection, gloves and disposable medical gowns.
Jennifer Hunt, M.D., said “Screening and testing the homeless in Hot Springs was such a unique opportunity. I was really impressed with the volunteers who coordinated that. They obviously have a real outreach effort in place for the homeless and the volunteers are very connected to the community. What a service to the real underserved and at-risk population.”
Hunt is director of the UAMS Triage Unit and chair of the UAMS College of Medicine Department of Pathology.
Brinkley Mayor Gary Henard, left, talks to Van Golden, UAMS director of external and governmental affairs.
Hunt also said she and the mobile triage team greatly appreciated the help in Dumas provided by the Arkansas Rural Health Partnership, which also has loaned the unit the large van it uses to get from city to city. The Triage Unit has conducted 18 drive-thrus in 12 Arkansas cities, visiting some multiple times.
Heading up the Brinkley drive-thru effort was Barbara McDonald, APRN, a nurse practitioner in the UAMS College of Medicine Department of Neurology and a volunteer team lead of the UAMS Triage Unit. ,
“I think this drive-thru reassures the community and brings more awareness,” Brinkley Mayor Gary Henard said. “That’s the main thing we need here, awareness that it’s happening in our community. It’s not just something in Little Rock or Fort Smith. They will take it more seriously because they see UAMS here. I’m so glad you all came down.”