HAVERFORD – A sick person walked into the Urgent Care on Eagle Road Thursday night, expressing concern about possible exposure to the coronavirus, officials said.
According to Haverford Police Chief John Viola, the patient had had contact with family members who “may” have been exposed to the virus.
“Nothing has been confirmed and medic crews had no contact with the patient,” Viola wrote in a text Friday morning.
Emergency crews were notified at 7:51 p.m. for a sick person. Notes on the dispatch log indicate the 54-year-old female had been in direct contact with confirmed coronavirus patient.
“Urgent care handled it well once they realized what they had and it worked out very well,” said Jim McCans, director of emergency medical services in the township. “The person came in with a concern, not with symptoms.”
McCans said if a person is worried that had exposure to a confirmed case of coronavirus they should call 1-877-PA-HEALTH. If they have normal symptoms of the flu or cold that they normally would treat at home, they should contact their family health provider. If they are ill, with high fever, trouble breathing they should call 911. Dispatchers will ask they caller a few questions to determine the risk for responding crews.
“Dispatchers will inform the responding units, which is what happened last night,” McCans said.
McCans said crews need to be prepared for the level of prevention they need to take. They don’t want patients walking into a facility such as an urgent care unannounced, thus contaminating the staff and other patients in the facility who may be in the area.
“We’re asking people not to come to a facility, if someone is truly sick call 911 and during call dispatcher will determine the risk,” McCans said. “EMS will take precautions and come. What we don’t want is to be surprised.”
McCans noted the recent incident in Upper Merion, which ordered 22 emergency responders to be quarantined.
“The first link in the chain is the dispatcher. They contact us, we contact hospital, so everybody remains protected as possible,” McCans said.
McCans noted that medics will wear gloves, masks, an N-95 eye protection and a gown on emergencies that involve possible coronavirus patients.
Following the call the medics will remove the contaminated gear which will be disposed by medical wast removal company, shower and have their uniforms replaced. The ambulance, which is decontaminated after every call, will have a complete sanitizing to clean all surfaces where droplets could land.
He also noted that with the heightened concern of coronavirus, the public should not overreact.
“People saw it on posted on Facebook. It created and unnecessary concern and almost panic about this call,” McCans said. “I had multiple calls about this before they even had a chance to investigate.”
