UNCP, county health department partnership strengthens during pandemic with testing, vaccination efforts

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Bill Smith and Chancellor Cummings with freezer at RCHD
A sub-zero freezer located at the Robeson County Health Department can store COVID-19 vaccines up to -80 Celsius. The freezer was provided in collaboration with UNCP as part of Operation Deep Freeze.

From the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, officials at UNC Pembroke have remained committed to protecting the health of the campus and the community. Key partnerships have made that possible and new efforts underway have the potential to bring additional testing and vaccines to the campus and community.

Since face-to-face classes resumed last August, thousands of individuals have been tested for the coronavirus on UNCP’s campus in a massive undertaking that would not have been possible without the collaboration and combined efforts from the Robeson County Health Department.

Leveraging all available expertise, university officials teamed with county health experts to plan and carry out mass drive-thru testing events in August and November with at least four more planned for the spring. They expect to test more than 1,000 people as part of a two-day campus event this week.

“We’ve partnered with the health department for a number of years, so it was a natural fit when we were looking to get creative with our resources and maximize our testing ability,” said Dr. Crystal Moore, Student Health Services director at UNCP. “By partnering with the health department, we were able to offer a convenient testing site for faculty, staff, students and the community.”

Dr. Moore says the success of the mass testing events and its role in helping mitigate the spread of COVID-19 on campus resulted from collaboration and efficient planning. Those efforts often included various campus departments stepping up to volunteer, including faculty, staff and students from the College of Health Sciences and the Department of Nursing.

These opportunities also provided unique, hands-on training for UNCP nursing students like Jason Bateman.

The senior nursing major logged more than 35 clinical hours by participating in multiple testing events on campus and throughout the community. Bateman assisted with registration and helped provide psychological and counseling services to individuals receiving tests. He also volunteered during one of UNCP’s COVID-19 research projects using serology testing for COVID-19 antibodies.

“I got the opportunity to work hand-in-hand with the county health department and our nursing department staff. We conducted testing for psychological abnormalities such as depression and anxiety that may arise from being tested.”

Bateman said the experiences fully solidified his career choice.

“I know 100% that I’m on the right path. I was able to interact with individuals who are scared and anxious and talk them through the process and help calm them down by further educating them on what COVID is, why testing is needed and how important it is to quarantine for 14 days. The experience allowed me to expand and broaden my knowledge of what a pandemic entails.

“We are at the forefront of research and technology in uncharted territory. I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in making a difference for the local community through testing, education and vaccination.”

Robeson County Health Director Bill Smith said his team was very familiar with the nursing students like Bateman, staff and administration at UNCP from years of teaming together to offer health screenings and various outreach events in the community. And, he was thrilled to partner again and play a role in the success of UNCP’s semester.

“It is important to the community that the university be safe and operational, and we recognize that for many students, virtual classes are not necessarily the right fit. They need that face-to-face instruction. So, this collaborative effort is a win-win for the whole area.”

While the testing partnership will continue this spring, Smith and UNCP officials have now turned their attention to collaborating on vaccination efforts in the area.

As the health department was deploying their vaccination efforts, the university arranged for a sub-zero freezer to be delivered to their facility in Lumberton. The unit is capable of storing COVID-19 vaccines at temperatures as low as -80 Celsius.

UNCP was the first in the UNC System to receive a storage freezer, according to Travis Bryant, associate vice chancellor for Safety and Emergency Operations. Last week, UNCP received a second freezer able to transport the vaccine safely while maintaining the necessary temperature. The university is slated to receive a total of five freezers as part of the UNC System’s Operation Deep Freeze in partnership with the North Carolina Policy Collaboratory bringing the total storage capacity to 117,600 2-ml vials.

This new equipment will be critical to continued efforts for deploying vaccines, something currently in the works through a partnership of UNC Pembroke, the UNC System, the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, county health officials and North Carolina Emergency Management.

Bryant says it is possible a new mass vaccination site capable of dispensing 1,000-5,000 shots a day could be established in Pembroke within weeks thanks to the cooperation of local and state officials with a singular goal—slowing the spread of COVID-19.

“If we are going to beat this disease, it will take all of us working together, leveraging our collective expertise and stepping up when asked,” said Bryant.

“I couldn’t imagine a more important time to say ‘yes, we will help this community’ than right now. If there is an opportunity to do something else, something more, to potentially save lives, then UNC Pembroke will always choose to serve.

“It is who we are.”