Lt. Col. Alyson Teeter

Washington Air National Guard

Wearing full face masks, suits, gloves and boots, 27 Washington Air and Army Guardsmen are working with Grays Harbor Public Health at the Aberdeen-based COVID-19 testing site.

Washington Guardsmen answered the call for help from Grays Harbor Emergency Management. The county needed to expand testing after having a very limited capability at the local hospital in Aberdeen, said Leonard Johnson, the incident commander for the Grays Harbor Public Health Department.

Setting up the testing site was seamless as most of the Guardsmen previously worked at the Yakima Community Based Testing Site the previous week, according to 1st Lt. Daniel Baba, officer in charge of the test site.

If a citizen shows any of the COVID-19 symptoms, they can call the triage line to schedule a test. At the scheduled time, the citizen drives up in their car and is directed to various stations in the “hot zone,” which is where patients go through the testing process.

In this zone, all test site workers must don appropriate personal protective equipment and strict protocols are followed to ensure everyone stays safe while assisting patients. They work in two hour shifts, with no food or water while in personal protective equipment. After their shift is complete Guardsmen go through a thorough decontamination process.

Although the chemical and decontamination process is arduous, Baba said it was an opportunity to put their practice to work.

“It’s awesome to use our training in the real world,” said Baba. “You can see the big picture here but also see how it’s helping the local community.”

Kimberly McCaw, an operations section chief with Grays Harbor County Public Health wrote in an email that a citizen said, “She was treated with such great dignity and respect and was made to feel at ease during a difficult time… She was so impressed of [sic] the ease and professionalism.”