The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

The Family Health Center, including the clinic in Cathlamet has been making adjustments as needed to handle the current situation with covid-19.

“We are following CDC and Washington Department of Health guidelines at all of our locations,” Director Dian Cooper wrote in an email.

The clinic manager in Cathlamet is also on daily calls with Wahkiakum Health and Human Services.

“We are advising patients with respiratory symptoms to call before coming to the clinic,” Cooper continued. “We are screening patients for symptoms and possible exposure. We are taking the temperatures of employees at the beginning of their shifts and of patients when they present to a clinic or a service site. Patients with temperatures 100 degrees or over are triaged, either in their vehicles or in an exam room. Employees with temperatures 100 degrees or over are being sent home.

"All our service lines are providing as many services by telephone or the patient portal as possible. We are limiting dental appointments to emergencies and medical appointments to urgent or sick visits. We have closed our residential facilities to visitors.

"We are providing covid-19 testing for FHC established patients, by appointment, who meet CDC screening guidelines. We have limited in-person meetings at our facilities to 10 people or less, per the most recent national advisory.”

They are also running low on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), but Cooper hopes that supplies ramp up quickly.

“If the hospitals are flooded, they are going to need those supplies,” she said.