This story is included in the most-recent issue of 追求 Magazine, the College’s twice-yearly 校友 publication. To view the entire issue online, or to view longer-form “追求 Extra” pieces, 点击这里.
2020年6月25日
Life appears normal on the Idaho frontier. Nestled at the foot of the towering Sawtooth Mountains, the small town of Stanley is preparing for the summer tourist season. Rafting guides are setting out on the Salmon River. Campers pull into the Mountain Village to fill up on gas. 当地人和游客都在镇上唯一的披萨店吃了一片披萨。 Stanley is where people go to escape. The concern this year is that Stanley may be where people are going to escape COVID-19. With only one health clinic in town, two College of Idaho interns are learning firsthand about rural medicine during a global pandemic.
Each year, two students from the College intern at the Salmon River Clinic. This summer, biomedical science majors Caly Thurston and Zoe Young were selected for the internship. 两位亚美体育官方网站都在课堂上学过流行病。 But it’s different experiencing one while on the job. Thurston and Young have been assisting in testing patients with symptoms, and they suit up with personal protective equipment, commonly referred to as PPE.
“When you put the outfit on, you realize it’s not just a story or something you see on the news; it feels real,” Young said. “There’s a constant list that runs in the back of your head, and so it’s scary because you have to put the patient first, but at the same time, if you mess up, you could be potentially at risk too.” By this day in late June, around 500 Idaho health care workers had been infected with COVID-19.
Every time a patient comes into the clinic to be tested, the medical providers take the necessary precautions. “There are only five workers at the clinic, so if one of us gets sick and spreads it to our coworkers, it could shut down the clinic, which would be bad for the community,” Thurston said.
The clinic is equipped with an Abbott ID Now COVID-19 test, which can produce results in under 15 minutes. “There are only 15 in the state of Idaho currently, so we were lucky to receive one of those, because we are pretty isolated,” Thurston said. 该测试包括用鼻拭子收集样本。 The clinic also offers an antibody test that confirms if a person was previously infected.
Along with testing patients for COVID-19, the students help with routine checkups, assist with search and rescue, scribe during ambulance runs, and receive an EMT (emergency medical technician) license. They both plan to attend medical school or a physician assistant program and envision practicing rural medicine in the future. For that reason, the Salmon River Clinic is a valuable experience. The next closest health care facility is just over an hour away in Ketchum. The Sawtooth Valley is an isolated place. And the close-knit community makes it an appealing location to practice rural medicine.
“这是我梦想的地方； it’s my dream job,” said Amy Klingler, MS, PA-C. Klingler is the physician assistant at the clinic and helps oversee the College interns. Though the community is far from a large regional medical center, Klingler is happy to be able to provide quality health care to locals and visitors.
The remoteness is also a reason people travel to Stanley during the summer. And because of COVID-19 and rising cases in surrounding communities, there’s cause for concern. “What I have seen play out is that people come to Stanley to escape COVID,” Klingler said.
到了春天，关于瑟斯顿和杨是否能完成实习，出现了一些问题。 “I actually had to think about it for a minute and wonder, do I want that extra exposure for us and for them,” Klingler said. But in the end, the help the students from the College provide is essential. “I always look forward to it, and it’s great having them.”
Thurston and Young are thrilled to have this opportunity. And they have learned a lot about the virus since the internship began. They participate in weekly interviews with Crush the Curve Idaho via Zoom and learn about how Idaho has been impacted through conversations with medical experts. “I think it’s very important that everyone works together to raise awareness to COVID, because we are dealing with testing shortages,” Thurston said. The clinic will only test patients who have had direct exposure or are symptomatic. “It makes it hard, because there are a lot of people walking around without symptoms that have it but can’t get tested.” 瑟斯顿说，在预防方面，“口罩确实起到了很大的作用。”
Young added, “Being able to see how the health care system works in person and how it works in response to a global pandemic is something I’ve learned a lot from. We always have to remind patients that even if you get a negative test, it doesn’t mean you are negative for COVID.” Pre-symptomatic people are more likely to get a false-negative test result before the onset of symptoms.
瑟斯顿说：“我们都需要站在同一条战线上互相照顾。” “我认为如果每个人都戴口罩，洗手，我们就可以作为一个社区互相帮助。 无论是在斯坦利的农村还是在芝加哥大学的社区。”
亚美体育拥有129年的卓越传统。 学院以其优秀的学术课程、优秀的体育传统和培养成功毕业生的历史而闻名，其中包括7位罗德奖学金获得者、3位州长和无数的商业领袖和创新者。 其独特的PEAK课程挑战亚美体育官方网站在人文科学、自然科学、社会科学和专业领域的四个知识高峰中获得能力，使他们能够在四年内获得一个主修和三个辅修。 学院紧密结合的住宿校园位于考德威尔，靠近博伊西和爱达荷州西南部山脉和河流的世界级户外活动，为课堂之外的学习亚美体育提供了独特的机会。 欲最新体育赛事资讯、实时赔率分析及在线投注平台信息，请访问 www.attrezzatureagricoleusate.com.
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