EAMC Begins COVID-19 Antibody Testing
On April 29, East Alabama Medical Center (EAMC) began testing for antibodies against the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Since that time, clinical leaders from EAMC’s Laboratory department took time to explain these tests and how they will be used in our ongoing fight against COVID-19. Click here for a complete Q&A:https://bit.ly/2Z3EXTf
Getting Back to Business
While some EAMC employees are still focused wholly on treating patients with COVID-19, the majority of the hospital employees are returning to the roles they had prior to March. “It’s not ‘business as usual’ because we’re all very mindful that the ‘new normal’ applies to everyone,” says John Atkinson, director of P.R. and Marketing. “Just as we have been stressing to the community to take special measures to keep themselves and their families safe, we have been taking extra precautions at EAMC. Every employee is screened every day prior to entry, every employee wears a mask, and extra cleaning measures and other preventive measures are being taken.” Atkinson states that physicians are seeing a semi “return to normal” quicker than expected. “Our doctors treated as many patients as they could using telehealth during the stay-at-home orders, but some services require, or are easier, when the patient can be seen in person by the physician.” Another area seeing an increase is surgery. “For a while, only urgent and emergent surgeries could be done. That created a backlog, but surgery teams are quite busy these days, even performing some procedures on the weekend to help patients get the care they need.”
For confirmed Alabama COVID-19 cases by county, please visit this ADPH link: https://covid19.alabama.gov/#live-updates