PHOTO #1: Firefighter paramedic Pamela Yanta with the Victoria Fire Department prepares May 21 to help test nursing home residents for COVID-19. In order to comply with Governor Greg Abbott’s May 11 order that all nursing home residents and staff be tested for the new coronavirus, the Victoria Fire Department reached out to the Golden Crescent Regional Advisory Council, area fire departments, health care providers and the Victoria College emergency medical services program to create a regional task force to carry out the testing. By June 9, the task force will have assisted with testing more than 2,000 residents and staff around the Crossroads region.
PHOTO #2: Victoria Fire Department firefighter paramedic Pamela Yanta, left, and firefighter medic Tim Decker, right, assist May 21 with COVID-19 testing at a Victoria nursing home. As of Tuesday, May 26, the fire department had helped to test approximately 470 residents at four Crossroads nursing homes.