Imminent Exposure:

Meet the Teams Performing Mass

COVID-19 Tests

Photos by Aimee Dilger | Video and Article by Kelly Dessoye

Published January 10, 2022

Kirby Park in Wilkes-Barre woke up slowly on a frosty January 6, 2022 as two vehicles tailed by a sheriff’s escort rolled through her barricades; and a small team of frontline workers unfurled from their heated cars to dust off sleep, starting the day.

Just hours before, that same lot was a vigil of red tail lights and exhaust. Car after car packed with people praying that the sniffle or tickle in their throat was only a winter cold and not the highly contagious Covid-19 virus.

According to representatives from AMI Expeditionary Healthcare and the Wilkes-Barre Department of Health, over the course of 4 days - from January 5-9, 2022 - the team swabbed the noses of over 1500 people for the novel coronavirus in the midst of a surge brought on by long awaited holiday gatherings, work or school requirements, and the relentless Omicron variant.

The nimble and thorough operation - orchestrated by AMI Expeditionary Healthcare and the PA Department of Health - is a handshake with the city of Wilkes-Barre which hosts one of Pennsylvania’s 4 municipal health departments.

*People in cars line up at Kirby Park to be tested for Covid-19 on January 5, 2022*

“We have to provide this service to the residents and the people outside Wilkes-Barre also,” said Wilkes-Barre mayor George Brown,

of the cost-free testing site. “It’s a free service. It doesn’t cost you a dime. You don’t need insurance, we’re happy to provide the service.” Compare that to a test at a local urgent care center, which sets an uninsured person back $75 for a rapid test and $60 for a PCR test.

Watch the video above to meet the team performing mass Covid-19 Tests.

*A swabber administers a Covid-19 test to a driver in Wilkes-Barre, PA*

The Kirby Park location was chosen for its large entryway and parking lot - a double lane one-way-in, one-way-out situation that the mayor and city officials hoped would ease the flow of traffic. The original location - a shopping center - was overwhelmed by the influx of cars; exceeding capacity and stifling local small business that’s already been thrashed by the nearly two year pandemic.

“The nice thing is, they’ve got a well trained team here,” Brown said of the frontline workers. “They know what they’re doing. They’re doing it as quickly as possible but they’re doing it the right way also and it’s going to benefit the people.”

That team operates out of two generator-powered trucks. Everyday they construct and demolish the site - schlepping printers, PPE, coolers, and folding tables to and from the night’s hotel. They’re from out of state - places like Georgia, Louisiana, and Florida - so like any job they take time away to be with family and catch up on life at home - often for about a week at a time. But when they’re on the job, they have a close-knit, familial vibe; driving hundreds of miles at a clip to log up to 12 hour days - sometimes changing cities weekly.

Rashad - Team Lead

Rashad Williams is one of the team leaders. In May 2020 he saw an ad for AMI Expeditionary Healthcare . “[Covid] testing? Of course, let me help,” recalled Rashad - then 18 - spotting an opportunity to explore new parts of the country while the world was shuttered. The flight from Georgia to Pennsylvania was his first time on an airplane. Now he carries the weight of an operation that sees him sleeping out of hotel rooms, microwaving dinners, and crossing state lines. Quite frankly - he’s enthusiastic. “I’m an energy man. I’m probably a solar powered battery.”

*Rashad Williams at the Kirby Park Covid-19 testing site on the night of January 6, 2022*

*Tamara Johnson reaches for a demographic sheet.*

Tamara - Runner and Administrator

Tamara fills the roles of runner and administrator, respectively. They pave the way for the “swabbers”, gathering data from each person in line. “Running means we go to each and every car, ask for a license, and bring it back here [to the administrator],” says Tamara Johnson, amid arranging clip boards and the aforementioned forms for the day ahead.

*Bianca Brown at the Kirby Park Covid-19 Testing Site the week of January 3, 2022*

Bianca - Swabber

Biana Brown is a swabber. After helping with the morning setup she slips into full PPE -a protective gown, a face shield, and N-95 mask. She and the other “swabbers” - all carrying medical certifications - scurry from the administrative desks in the trucks to car after car; peeling off gloves and sanitizing between each patient.

“Woooo, it gets tiresome … imagine being on your feet all day, no breaks no nothing,” Bianca exclaims, her face shield fogging with the expression; recounting how the team forgoes breaks to better serve the people who are waiting in long lines.

“We’re here to work.”

The risk of exposure to COVID is imminent.

*Melissa administers a Covid test the night of January 5, 2022.*

“Once we get the machine running, it’s hard to stop. The machine is the team and our systems,” say Rashad, praising the resourcefulness of a team that is constantly refining and evolving, even faced with challenges such as language barriers (Rashad used Google Translate to communicate with Spanish speaking families), and enormous turn-outs. “We’re getting a pretty positive response from the community, and we have help from the Department of Health and the city as well,” he says of Wilkes-Barre at large.