Offsite testing considerations-page 2

1. Identifying and prioritizing the population to be tested

Sub-theme

Decision makers

Consideration

Identify a leader tasked with determining the population to be tested, who uses data and seeks broad input from partners.

Voices from the Field

“our medical director, epidemiologist, … release … guidance around who should be tested each week”
“…municipalities at all levels….[are] partners … in designating certain specific populations to be tested…”
“everybody had should have an equity officer that is thinking about who is most likely to be impacted … and then there should have been really focused testing in those places”
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Priority patients are evolving

Consideration

When tests are limited, make sure populations that need them most are able to access them.

Definitions of priority populations may need to evolve as test availability changes.

Voices from the Field

“now the challenge is to refine our testing because now we're having supply chain issues …our ability to test and give good service and launch new methodologies is all being challenged by the vast number of tests that we're doing. So now we have to refine who we’re testing and that’s a challenge that’s very different than what it was in the very beginning.”
“as of this week, we've developed a list of high-risk populations … we want people to know we're not taking away supply from high-risk populations, … we're doing outreach to employers, long-term care facilities, hospitals, SNFs, where we believe that this can be a value add to them … if nursing home staff can't get access to testing then, you know, we're not doing the full job that we want to do here.”
“I think early testing really missed the people were being most impacted … for those people who had to continue to go to work during shelter in place and are now highly impacted … our focus has been on ensuring that testing is available and accessible to those communities.”
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2.Identifying and Mobilizing Your Partners

Importance of partnters

Consideration

OSCTCs may need to think outside of the box and explore additional partnerships to meet the needs of their communities.

Voices from the Field

“we no longer can be siloed. We have to have a partnership. We have to be a family of resources for everyone in our communities …we have to band together … looking at it through the lens of what each organization do well.”
“if you are a hospital or hospital network and you are not connected with healthcare collation or with your local groups in the county that have resources, you need to do so immediately…”
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Existing networks and partners

Consideration

Voices from the Field

Neutral conveners and integrators

Consideration

Voices from the Field

Department of Public Health

Consideration

Voices from the Field

Federal Government

Consideration

Voices from the Field

National Guard

Consideration

Voices from the Field

“National Guard, which is an absolute lifesaver here”
“the National Guard has such a great set-up … they did reconnaissance and … when it opened, our site was tight. I do have to give great credit to them because wait times were really very short around an average of fifteen minutes.”
“our National Guard has been fantastic on being able to fill positions with bodies, resources, and equipment to be able to help us and just be as nimble as we needed them to be”
“it broke also that the governor is sending army people in uniform to predominantly African American public housing structures to test them, so you can imagine the challenge that arose, right? …we wanted to be very sensitive to that and to the National Guard thing… it is a rightfully very appropriate sensitivity … in the name of public health, doing really bad things to the most vulnerable members of our community.”
“especially sensitivities from our underserved and minority communities of having National Guard in uniform there, I can get into how we screwed that up in the past, or how the state screwed up”
“part of negotiating with the National Guard and was listen, okay, you guys want to wear uniform I get it… it's important for the commander to understand that they need to augment the civilians rather than run their own show.”
“…because of that history, that bringing in National Guard troops to do testing would not necessarily be welcomed by either the Latinx Community or by the African American Community with it harkening back to the Civil Rights Movement.”
“I have heard that before that getting governor involved is very effective. The Governor is on the phone, press conference the next day and then things are going.”
“If you can get your state and elected officials to champion your efforts that will definitely push traffic towards your testing event, and also gives a sense of validity to what you're doing so to saying.”
“I met with the governor one day [regarding] supplies and he literally flew on his helicopter to [town], … and he sent one of his staff to the lab … to physically get swabs, and get them on the helicopter”
“if we could do anything different, it would be … earlier on, having a really close relationship with our state and municipal contacts”
“…municipalities at all levels….[are] partners not only in designating certain specific populations to be tested but also in terms of provision of resources that are municipalities and departments have available that can support the social determinants side of our assessments.”
“the local leaders are who will be your champions on the ground”
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Governors and elected officials

Consideration

Voices from the Field

Local leaders

Consideration

Voices from the Field

EMS

Consideration

Voices from the Field

Volunteers

Consideration

Voices from the Field

VNAs

Consideration

Voices from the Field

Boards of Pharmacy

Consideration

Voices from the Field

Philanthropists

Consideration

Voices from the Field

Places of worship

Consideration

Voices from the Field

Social justice groups and community organizations

Consideration

Voices from the Field