The Tarrant County Medical Society is pleased to announce that the City of Fort Worth Fire Department, in close consultation with Dr. Michael Williams, President, UNTHSC at Fort Worth and Dr. Keith Argenbright, Director, Moncrief Cancer Institute/UT Southwestern Medical Center have opened a COVID-19 testing center for 1st responders that is now available to front line health care workers. This screening resource is now available for physicians, nurses, medical assistants and other health professionals who are on the front lines fighting the COVID virus.
If you are interested in accessing this testing, please call the Infections Disease Coordinator at the Joint Emergency Operations Center (EOC) at the City of Fort Worth at 817-714-9709. This number is answered from 8 am to 5 pm daily. The ID coordinator will conduct an environmental and clinical assessment of the health care professional and determine if COVID testing is warranted. We understand that the clinical evaluation of COVID testing is complex and changes rapidly – you can be assured that the IC coordinator is up-to-date on the current recommendations.
If testing is indicated, the ID coordinator will collect demographic and clinical information from the health care professional and give the provider the address of the testing facility and an appointment window. The ID coordinator will inform the professional that if the result is positive, they will receive the results by phone; if negative by text or e-mail. The health care professional will be given post-test instructions, including self-quarantine until the test results are available. We are telling them to expect 5 days for results, but are hoping for a quicker turn-around.
We appreciate your cooperation in this effort to quickly and appropriately screen our critical health care providers. This is a new program and thus will be subject to modification as it is operationalized.
Tarrant County Physician Online 