Conway Regional, colleges announce COVID-19 partnership

CONWAY — Conway Regional Health System, along with Central Baptist College, Hendrix College and the University of Central Arkansas, announced a partnership for testing and health services related to COVID-19.

The health system and Conway’s three institutions of higher education have collaborated for several weeks to implement protocols and practices to help ensure the health and safety of students, faculty and staff.

“Each fall, the makeup of Conway changes when the City of Colleges welcomes thousands of students back to campus,” said Matt Troup, president and CEO of the health system. “Our partnership specific to COVID-19 with our local colleges and universities extends beyond the bricks and mortar of our medical center.”

As a community, administrators at the campuses felt the need to pursue a local health care partnership to help address COVID-19 this fall.

“A college consortia with regard to COVID-19 screening and testing in the City of Colleges is ideal because it allows us to speak with one voice to the thousands of employees and students on our campuses of higher education,” said Sancy Faulk, vice president for Institutional Advancement at Central Baptist College.

The partnership focuses on recommended best practices for each campus to keep its occupants safe and healthy. The infectionprevention team at Conway Regional has worked with campus medical providers to understand their needs and provide guidance on COVID-19 prevention and testing, as well as operational recommendations, which are based on the health system’s management of COVID-19 since its appearance in Conway in March.

“We know that we are stronger and more efficient when we work together,” said Houston Davis, UCA president.

“We felt that between our three colleges and Conway Regional Health System, we could collaborate to identify solutions to meet all of our needs,” Davis said.

“We are grateful to Conway Regional for its partnership on this critical and timely project to keep our campus and community healthy and safe,” Hendrix President Ellis Arnold said. “We are also excited about the new Conway Regional Medical Clinic in The Village at Hendrix, which will offer a higher level of care and service for our students and employees and will serve the health-and-wellness needs of our campus and community for years to come.”

Additionally, this partnership enables COVID-19 testing for all college students in Conway.

“This critical partnership will have an immediate impact in addressing COVID-19 on our campuses and will help with surge testing when and if it’s needed,” said Necie Reed, an advanced-practice registered nurse at the Conway Regional Hendrix Medical Clinic.

For UCA, it’s about ensuring a sustainable approach for managing COVID-19.

“This partnership will increase our capacity to test more, and testing is an important health tool to help us track COVID-19 and to implement mitigation strategies on our campus,” Davis said.

“At Conway Regional, we have evolved and adapted throughout this pandemic to meet the needs of different populations and the communities we serve,” Troup said. “We have worked with each organization in some capacity throughout the years — whether it be athletics or supporting their student health services. This partnership came together very naturally.”

All three institutions of higher education plan to resume face-to-face instruction for the fall semester on Aug. 20.