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Here's What YKHC Is Doing Now To Fight COVID-19

Katie Basile
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KYUK

With the first case of coronavirus now confirmed in Alaska, how to contain the disease is top priority for the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation. The Native Corporation serves about 58 communities, all of which are off the road system. 

YKHC chief of staff Ellen Hodges said that COVID-19 will eventually reach the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, so they are doing everything they can now to make sure that the cases are spread out over a longer period of time instead of clustering together and overwhelming the regional hospital and village clinics. It’s called flattening the curve.

Credit Valerie Kern / Alaska Public Media
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Alaska Public Media

"What I really like is that there's a really big proactive push in the state of Alaska right now to cancel large gatherings, to postpone things, to limit the social gatherings of people to try to flatten the curve so we don’t have people all show up at once," said Hodges.

Hospitals in Seattle, Washington and Italy have been strained by COVID-19 cases. Hodges said that they are trying to prevent that from happening in the Y-K Delta. Hodges said that YKHC is on calls almost daily with state officials, and is keeping up with the swiftly changing guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. YKHC has partnered with a private lab out of state that will allow them to send samples to be tested. YKHC will test anyone who has COVID-19 symptoms after traveling outside of Alaska.

"I think it’s key to do that in a large outbreak setting like this," Hodges said.

It does take about five days for test results to come back. So if someone does exhibit those symptoms, YKHC and health aides in villages will require the person to quarantine themselves at home until they get the results. YKHC is training health aides to take samples in villages. From there, Hodges said that YKHC will work closely with the state.

"We’re expecting 80 percent of our patients infected will be mildly ill, will be self-quarantined, and we will do whatever the state tells us to do to track down contacts. If they are critically ill, we will transport them using our usual transport methods with the exception that we will notify the recipient hospital and our transport team so they can use proper isolation," Hodges said.

YKHC has set up a nurse triage line for Bethel residents, which is 907-543-6949. YKHC will turn people away from the hospital if they don’t have an appointment. Hodges said this practice is to keep healthy people from getting sick. Hodges said that people need to call ahead if they are exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms, such as a fever or dry cough.

"Just don’t walk in. We really need people to call. One of the most important infection disease control is to keep people out of healthcare settings until they have a mask on," Hodges said.

But if someone does show up to the hospital with those symptoms without calling, Hodges said that YKHC will put a mask on the person and place them in a private room for testing. YKHC has several rooms set up to allow them to swab samples for COVID-19 testing.

"The sample and the method of the sample collected and transported is the exact same as the flu and RSV," Hodges said.

Afterwards, YKHC will send the person back home to stay in quarantine until the test results return. If the person does not have a home, YKHC will coordinate with the state on the next steps.

Villages have their own triage line, and Hodges said for people in villages to follow the normal routine there for now. She said all of this can change once a case of coronavirus reaches the Y-K Delta. Remembering a time when the area had an outbreak of H1N1, also known as swine flu, Hodges said that YKHC had many village clinics handling outbreaks.

"So we already had a plan in place to identify villages who are at high risk, villages who are experiencing a surge in respiratory patients, and to daily check in with villages to ask how many patients they are seeing," Hodges said.

YKHC has sent instructions to village clinics to show residents how to make a water and bleach solution that will help keep houses and the clinic clean even if they lack access to running water. Meanwhile, YKHC is working on guidelines should an employee be infected and test positive.

"So it would be really on a case by case basis who it is, who they have come in contact with, and what our state partners want us to do. I think we would rely heavily on their guidance to try to figure out exactly what to do," Hodges said.

Hodges said that the Y-K Delta is already in the middle of a big outbreak of influenza and RSV, a respiratory virus that infects children. 

"There are also a lot of viruses that are making people sick right now. So what we want to do is that we are not overreacting to fever and cough because there’s a lot of people with that this time of year, but also that we are not underreacting," Hodges said.

Hodges urges the public to check in daily to see updated guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.