Reservation communities ahead of the curve with testing, response

The Wind River Family and Community Health Center in Arapaho no longer resembles the bustling family clinic it operated as once upon a time before COVID-19.

Tents and a trailer have popped up outside, and the bulk of clinic activity now takes place in the parking lot, where physicians and staff in protective suits, masks, visors and gloves greet patients in their cars, assess their health or test them for COVID-19.

And test they do. The clinic, which like most facilities in Wyoming was initially hampered by testing supply shortages, has overcome those restraints by using saline solution as a transport medium, a method backed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since early April it has offered tests to any tribal member who wants one — tribal employees, parents, young, old, sick, asymptomatic or already tested — at its Arapaho location as well as a satellite clinic in Ethete.

Though tests are mainly for Indian Health Service beneficiaries, the clinic has tested others, paying the $51 per test itself and hoping to recoup some of the costs through Medicaid and other third-party resources, WRFCH CEO Richard Brannan said. Many reservation residents have responded to the call, bringing a steady stream of cars through those parking lots. Staff estimates they’ve seen as many as 80 patients a day.

Read more: https://www.wyofile.com/reservation-communities-ahead-of-the-curve-with-testing-response/