Pictured left to right is Kim Beaty, RN, CDE-Diabetes Educator; Valencia Mattison, MPH-Community Health Coordinator; Kay Jones, LPN-Community Health Nurse; Jenny Moore, Corporate Health and Wellness Liaison, Amanda Morgan, MPA-Department Director, Lucy Wilson, RN-Chronic Care Nurse and Heather Martin, BSN, RN – Chronic Care Nurse.
Abbeville Area Medical Center’s (AAMC) Community Health, Wellness and Outreach Department recently received a new Toyota Sienna minivan van to support its community outreach efforts. Funded through a HRSA Vaccine Confidence grant, the vehicle took six months to arrive due to supply chain issues.
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, not only was AAMC hosting multiple mobile testing sites, it was also providing industries and worksites throughout Abbeville, McCormick, Greenwood and Anderson Counties with on-site COVID testing through its Direct Health Industrial Medicine program.
“It was our goal to provide area businesses and industries with an accurate and convenient way for their employees who may have been exposed to COVID-19 to be tested,” stated Amanda Morgan, MPA Director of AAMC’s Community Health, Wellness and Outreach Department. “Providing this service directly to the worksites meant their employees could stay on the job and work, which was beneficial for both the individual and business, especially during the time when workforces were being hit hard by the virus.”
To provide these important services, outreach team members were using their personal vehicles to transport large quantities of COVID testing supplies as well as the collected specimens to and from the hospital.
As the need for testing declined and the COVID-19 vaccines became available, the priority quickly shifted to providing easily accessible and convenient COVID-19 vaccination clinics. Once again this meant staff members were transporting large quantities of vaccination supplies, coolers, and sharps containers, which further reinforced the need for an outreach vehicle.
The van sports the AAMC logo, photographs of staff providing services offered by the department as well as the words “Protect. Prevent. Promote.”
“The words protect, prevent and promote sum up the goal of what we are trying to accomplish with our outreach efforts,” stated Morgan. “We also wanted our staff members depicted on the van to showcase their hard work and make them more recognizable in the community.”
There is also one very special long-time AAMC staff member highlighted on the vehicle, Anna Edmunds, who became ill not long after the photographs were taken and unfortunately passed away before the artwork on the van was completed.
“Anna served AAMC in various positions for more than 30 years, most recently as a member of the Community Health, Wellness and Outreach team,” said Morgan. “She dedicated her life to providing love and care to her patients, co-workers, and community. We felt placing Anna’s photograph was a very appropriate tribute to the many years she spent giving to others.”
If you are interested in learning more about the services provided to area businesses and the community by AAMC’s Community Health, Wellness and Outreach department, call (864) 366-9681.
