Montana public employees test for coronavirus
By Jill Cohenour
Montana’s state laboratory is a hive of activity on a normal day, but since COVID-19 hit our state, the clinical laboratory specialists in the Laboratory Services Bureau of the state health department have stepped up their game considerably. The lab initiated a new test and has provided ongoing testing to support Montana’s response to the pandemic. These highly educated and certified analysts are an asset to Montana’s citizens. Though you may not have known they existed, they deserve many thanks for the work they do to help keep Montana safe.
Our Laboratory Services Bureau is a partner in the Laboratory Response Network of labs across the United States. This network has been tasked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with gaining expertise in testing and preparing to respond to emergencies and acts of terrorism. Through relationships with other states and the CDC, the capacity to respond and run specific tests has been built over many years. The CDC has provided instruments and has required the clinical lab specialists to gain specific education in current methods, develop new tests and prove their competence annually. Without this expertise, we could not have responded so quickly in testing Montana’s citizens for COVID-19, which has sickened and killed thousands of Americans.
Our clinical lab specialists have practiced their response, together with state and federal labs, to prepare for just such a crisis — although they cannot prepare for every new situation. The preparedness of these valuable union public employees is an asset to Montana.
The state’s response has required that a new test be developed, testing be done quickly and results be reported in a timely manner to the governor and health officials. State decision-making has hinged on knowing where and when the virus hit our state. Tracking the progress and growth of positive cases has helped the governor, local and county officials, and the federal government to assess the extent of the outbreak and to proactively plan for changing conditions.
Without these public employees’ experience and expertise, our state would not have been able to ramp up needed testing protocols and respond as quickly to reduce the number of new infections, a top priority. Flattening the curve of the outbreak — isolating people to slow the rate of infection — must happen to protect our nurses, doctors and other healthcare staff from getting overwhelmed. Healthcare systems being overwhelmed has caused many deaths in other countries dealing with the worldwide outbreak of COVID-19.
The atmosphere in the lab is filled with dogged purpose. Those of us who can’t do the testing ourselves can support it through offers of help. We do anything we can to support those performing the testing. The lab manager provides up-to-the-minute communications on response and planning. Supervisors manage shifting needs. Our administrative personnel obtain the all-important supplies needed for testing. Technicians and lab workers keep up other responsibilities in the lab. Our environmental laboratory chemists help with testing and receiving supplies. Our internal support employees accept samples into the lab, enter data to track each sample and report results.
There were initially four clinical lab specialists qualified to run tests. Now, training of other specialists is ongoing to spread the workload. Instrumentation is a bit limited, but the workers maintain all quality assurance and control requirements, ensuring the accuracy of the tests they perform. Weekend shifts, early mornings and late nights are now the norm. Bureau employees are doing all we can to turn test results around within 24 hours to ensure patients are notified by their healthcare providers of their status as soon as possible.
It takes all of us union employees collectively working together on behalf of all Montanans. The expertise of these amazing public employees working for the state of Montana has allowed our state to respond quickly and appropriately. We do work that matters for Montana.
Jill Cohenour is a Montana state senator, a chemist in the Montana State Environmental Laboratory, president of the Federation of Public Health and Human Services, Local 4573, and chair of the AFT Public Employees program and policy council.
