OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — The Douglas County Health Department announced Wednesday one of the main testing sites in south Omaha, located at 50th and G, will close down Thursday.
In a statement, Nebraska Medicine, who helps staff the site, says they originally committed to staffing it for four weeks, and expanded it two additional weeks.
But they say now, “individuals signing up to support this operation have primary duties elsewhere in the system. As we ramp back up operations in ambulatory, surgery, inpatient departments, it has grown increasingly challenging to maintain adequate staffing at this site."
Health Director doctor Dr. Adi Pour expanded a bit more during the Douglas County Board of Health meeting Wednesday.
“They used to use some individuals who are now going back to college, and so it is definitely a nursing shortage,” says Pour.
So now the health department is working to bring back a site to south Omaha.
“In south Omaha this area has a lot of packing house workers, people who cannot work from home, and it’s multi generational, they got an 85-year-old grandmother, and 4-year-old baby, all this kind of thing. It’s a real mixture, it’s a formula for disaster and that’s what’s happening.”
Douglas County Commissioner Mike Boyle, who represents the area, says he’s on the phone with health officials, trying to get a new site as soon as possible.
When they do get one, he wants to see it closer to where the vulnerable populations live.
“Frankly they didn’t like it at 50th Street, they felt that it wasn’t in south Omaha,” says Boyle. “If they open one, I’d like to see us go further east.”
Boyle doesn’t point the finger at anybody or organization in the state, instead criticizing the federal government’s response, leading to a lack of sites in places like south Omaha.
“There are bad places all over the United States and this is really one of them,” says Boyle.
The site will be open from 1-5 pm Thursday before closing down.
