Ready for you at TU: Health Center ready to pass the test

By Kyle Hobstetter on August 6, 2020

For six weeks, the Towson University Health Center has been a COVID-19 testing site—testing members of the Towson and Towson University communities. 

Initially a small site, staff was only testing those volunteering to work on campus. The Health Center is now testing anyone ready to return to campus for the 2020 fall term.

With a capacity to do 700 tests per day, Health Center staff has performed more than 1,600 tests in the last month and a half. Matt Goldstein, director of the Health Center, says that the community’s commitment is on fully display.

“It speaks about the population that when they were called to social distance, wear a mask and to stay at home, they did it,” Goldstein says. “These tests kind of validate that the Towson community is a community that listens and continues to do so.”

Like many on campus, the Health Center staff has been working at home since the university moved to remote learning in March. 

In fact, since the novel coronavirus pandemic started, Goldstein says that he and his staff have been doing research on best practices for the campus community as TU opens this fall. 

This includes preventing the disease's spread in situations of campus living, a health care delivery and classrooms. The staff has also looked at what’s been working for other organizations and what hasn’t. 

“When people let their guard down in terms of masks and social distancing that’s when you see places having to backtrack,” Goldstein says. “Wear a mask, wash your hands and keep distancing yourself because we can’t let our guard down.” 

The Health Center staff members were some of the first to jump at the chance to return to work. For the past six weeks they have been on campus, doing their office work and facing 100-degree weather to make sure the community gets tested. 

Along with regular Health Center staff, 11 students from Towson University’s physician’s assistant master's program are supporting the testing center as part of their clinical rotations. Goldstein says TU faculty members have also called to volunteer.

“We’ve kind of got a small army here who is ready to help,” Goldstein laughs. “We’ve got all hands on deck, and it’s been truly amazing to see. And not one person has complained. Not one person has come up to me and told me it’s too hot.

“They understand they've got a mission. They've got to keep everyone safe and healthy, and they're doing it.”

As students and staff come back to campus, they can expect to see changes to the Health Center and its operations. The most noticeable will be the COVID-19 testing tent across from the Health Center. 

Make a COVID-19 test appointment at the Towson University Health Center

Inside there will be two separate waiting rooms: one specifically for patients with COVID-19 symptoms and one for patients there for regular care. 

The Health Center will rely on technology to cut student wait time, doing prescreening, video calls and telephone conversations.

“We're going to screen, we're going to talk to students and see what their needs are before they come in,” Goldstein says. “We're going to limit the amount of time that they're in a patient room.

“I’m lucky because I have a staff of over 20 very smart people, who over the past few months have been thinking of ways that we can keep our students safe while they are on campus." 

This story is one of several related to President Kim Schatzel’s priorities for Towson University: TU Matters to Maryland.