{"id":805865,"date":"2020-03-30T19:09:04","date_gmt":"2020-03-31T01:09:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=381206"},"modified":"2020-03-30T19:59:24","modified_gmt":"2020-03-31T01:59:24","slug":"summit-community-care-clinic-works-to-take-pressure-off-the-hospital-emergency-department-during-coronavirus-outbreak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/summit-community-care-clinic-works-to-take-pressure-off-the-hospital-emergency-department-during-coronavirus-outbreak\/","title":{"rendered":"Summit Community Care Clinic works to take pressure off the hospital emergency department during coronavirus outbreak"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Physician\u2019s assistant Stephanie Kuenn adjusts her N95 mask at the Summit Community Care Clinic in Frisco on Monday, March 30.<\/strong>
\nLiz Copan \/ ecopan@summitdaily.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

FRISCO \u2014 The Summit Community Care Clinic\u2019s doors are open and workers are providing care amid the COVID-19 public health crisis.<\/p>\n

Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kathleen Cowie said the clinic is seeing patients via telehealth services as well as scheduling in-person visits for those who have more severe symptoms. If a telehealth medical provider is concerned that a patient is very ill, an on-site assessment can be scheduled at the clinic on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.<\/p>\n

The goal, Cowie said, is to treat as many patients at the clinic as possible so that they don\u2019t need to go to the hospital\u2019s emergency department.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy doing this, it really offloads the burden on the emergency department and the doctors there by us seeing some of the less severely ill patients,\u201d Cowie said.<\/p>\n

When patients enter the Community Care Clinic building, they have their temperature taken and are asked whether they have any COVID-19 related symptoms and whether they have had known exposure to someone with the novel coronavirus. Some patients then are tested for COVID-19, but the clinic is not immune to the testing shortage: It had only 14 unused test kits as of Monday.<\/p>\n

Cowie explained that, based on a person\u2019s symptoms, a flu and strep test easily can be administered because they are much more readily available. The center is also able to give a patient a chest X-ray, if needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re testing most of the people that come in for influenza, which we can do a rapid test right here,\u201d Cowie said. \u201cWe can also do a rapid strep test, as well. The last two weeks, we were doing more COVID testing because \u2026 we\u2019re trying to establish our numbers that we know are here, but we just haven\u2019t been able to prove with positive tests.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cowie estimated that about half of the calls the clinic receives these days are related to some sort of respiratory illness. She added that callers\u2019 symptoms are being tracked and submitted to public health, which is giving health officials a better idea of the spread of the virus.<\/p>\n

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Medical supplies for COVID-19 testing are pictured at the Summit Community Care Clinic in Frisco on Monday, March 30.<\/strong>
\nLiz Copan \/ ecopan@summitdaily.com<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Cowie said that four of the tests the clinic has submitted have returned positive while five are pending. She said the clinic is expecting to receive two more test kits but does not know how many it will receive after that.<\/p>\n

Cowie said many people ask if they need to be tested for COVID-19, but with the limited test kits available, testing is often not necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest question is, \u2018Do I need a test?\u2019 And the answer is generally, \u2018No, you don\u2019t,’\u201d Cowie said. \u201c\u2026 The majority of people do not need a test to tell them that they have symptoms. The ones that do need a test are the ones that are very, very ill or who have many other risk factors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cowie reminded people that if they have symptoms of a respiratory illness, they should self-isolate and not leave their home unless they have been symptom and fever-free for three days. She said that even if symptoms are mild, people should self-isolate so that they do not expose others.<\/p>\n

Lately, the clinic has been seeing an average of five patients at each of the prearranged sessions, which occur three days per week. However, Cowie said that number is starting to ramp up after the clinic had eight patients Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen things pick up just from the end of last week to now, but it\u2019s really hard to say. Nobody really knows,\u201d Cowie said about anticipated caseloads. \u201cWe keep waiting for the big tsunami, in a sense, to come. We\u2019re just trying to be as prepared as we can be.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, the clinic\u2019s patient numbers are down from what is typical. But unlike the hospital<\/a>, it isn\u2019t because of a lack of visitors.<\/p>\n

\u201cA large volume of what we do are wellness visits, which people aren\u2019t going to come in as much for wellness visits during this nor would we want them to,\u201d Cowie said.\u00a0\u201cBut what we do want people to know is we still are here for you whether there\u2019s a pandemic or not. So if you have diabetes, if you have high blood pressure, we can still help you through all this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Summit Community Care Clinic CEO Helen Royal explained that the purpose of the clinic is to serve the community, and while visitors are welcome, they aren\u2019t the primary focus.<\/p>\n

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Physician\u2019s assistant Stephanie Kuenn sanitizes her hands before putting on protective gear at the Summit Community Care Clinic in Frisco on Monday, March 30.<\/strong>
\nLiz Copan \/ ecopan@summitdaily.com<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cOur target population is people who are vulnerable, and that can be people who are uninsured, people who might have language barriers, cultural barriers around health care, don\u2019t have access to specialty care, those types of things,\u201d Royal said.\u00a0\u201cThat is certainly our mission, and we serve all levels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Royal said that while the clinic typically serves medical, dental and mental health needs, the dental department is currently only open for emergencies, and mental health services are being offered virtually. Royal said that since patient volume is currently so low, the clinic has some \u201chuge financial stressors coming up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cowie commented that staff morale is high, and Royal noted how the community has stepped up by bringing tents and heaters for the open-air section of the clinic, buying staff members lunch and volunteering to direct traffic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn these kind of times, you see people shine,\u201d Royal said. \u201cWhen it feels pretty overwhelming, that\u2019s been something for people to grab onto.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for staff, Cowie said some staff members have had to be quarantined after they had exposure to COVID-19. Overall, Cowie said her biggest concern with the virus is that the medical system is ill-equipped to handle such an outbreak. Personally, she said she is worried about bringing the virus home to her family.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy concern for humanity first and foremost, but also for our community and then our clinic, is how long is this going to take,\u201d Royal said.<\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Physician\u2019s assistant Stephanie Kuenn adjusts her N95 mask at the Summit Community Care Clinic in Frisco on Monday, March 30. Liz Copan \/ ecopan@summitdaily.com FRISCO \u2014 The Summit Community Care Clinic\u2019s doors are open and workers are providing care amid the COVID-19 public health crisis. Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kathleen Cowie said the clinic is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-805865","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-17 20:33:52","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=805865"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":805866,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805865\/revisions\/805866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=805865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=805865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=805865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}