Photo By Staff Sgt. Tegan Kucera | A Soldier from Task Force 177 opens the package for a COVID-19 test swab. TF 177 was...... read more read more
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TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. – Extending no-cost COVID-19 testing to Michiganders has been the theme for the last couple of weeks in a few cities across Michigan.
The state of Michigan is now able to offer its residents drive-through COVID-19 testing. This is done through the combined efforts of the National Guard, the State Emergency Operations Center and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
“We’ve ramped up testing in the last few weeks and this is really part of the governor’s overall strategy to get things moving in the right direction,” said Capt. Kevin Sweeney, deputy state director of Emergency Management and Homeland Security and commander of the Michigan State Police, Emergency Management and Homeland Security Division. “I think we’re definitely headed that way, and so we’re just glad to be a part of that strategy and be able to do our part.”
In only a week, the three entities were able to organize testing in six counties throughout the state. This included finding a proper venue, setting it up just right so residents could find their way around easily and have all the equipment necessary.
“This is the second weekend of doing these community type events, and it worked very well last weekend in Flint and Muskegon Heights, so we thought let’s try this again this weekend,” said Sweeney. “Now we’re at six different communities around the state and there are already talks of moving onto six to eight communities next weekend.”
Over the weekend, 767 people were tested in Traverse City and 5,630 throughout the six locations. All residents will hear from the health department of the county they live in, if they have the virus or not. If they do, this will require follow-up calls and tests. This is where the health department really takes the reins, but the National Guard Soldiers and Airmen are the ones who have been performing the tests.
“We are excited to participate with the National Guard in a joint operation to provide the opportunity to the community so they can get tested for COVID-19 if they want to,” said Andrew Waite.
A program supervisor with the Grand Traverse County Health Department, Waite said it was always the target to be able to do so much testing in a matter of a couple of days. He said working with the National Guard is easy. He said they were efficient, friendly and got to the work at hand quickly.
“It’s been a good learning experience for me personally,” said Waite. “It’s a good show of coordination and cooperation of all the different jurisdictions coming together for one common goal. Today is a good example of how we’re able to achieve that quickly and more efficiently as we’re all working together.”
Before the event even took off on the first day Waite said they had people arriving almost two hours early just waiting to be tested. Local residents wanted to know if they are safe to interact with others when the state starts opening up more next week.
“The more patient interaction that I can have the better. It’s helped me to be more involved with the civilian population rather than just the military environment.” said Spc. John Nikutta. “It’s given me a very wide spectrum of experience to bring to my future career.”
A medic with the National Guard and part of Task Force 177, Nikutta quit his job as a patient technician earlier this year in order to attend school to become a physicians’ assistant. Because of COVID-19, this did not go according to plan, as summer classes have been cancelled and he is getting a crash course in dealing with patients, and he is loving the opportunity to help the community.
“I think we’ve really helped fill a hole, where they (medical personnel) haven’t had the man power to do everything,” said Nikutta. “A lot of medical workers on the civilian side were already over tasked in their roles before COVID-19, so being able to go into the community and help those workers, I think that is a pretty amazing thing to do.”
Nikutta, and other National Guard medics like him are helping, by working these events and testing the higher risk prisoners and vulnerable populations. Because of all the risk he and the other medics are taking, he has had to go through the test a couple of times himself, so he knows what he is talking about when he tells the residents what to expect and can empathize.
This event was slightly different from others. Some residents wanted their children tested as well. The test is safe for children five and older. Nikutta said the kids were champs and took it without complaint. One Soldiers’ day was made when a child thought he looked like a character from the beloved Disney movie Monsters, Inc. This is a way the National Guard is helping Traverse City and other communities like it.
“I joined the National Guard to work on humanitarian missions, and being able to work in something like this is exactly what I wanted to do when I joined,” said Nikutta.
Many agencies around the state have joined together to reopen Michigan. They all know how important this is to them, their families and residents. They are all working extremely hard to make this happen. (Story by Michigan Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Tegan Kucera)
| Date Taken: | 06.04.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 06.05.2020 15:11 |
| Story ID: | 371564 |
| Location: | TRAVERSE CITY, MICHIGAN, US |
| Web Views: | 95 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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