McKenzie Medical Center, Bethel team up for on-campus clinic

MCKENZIE, Tenn. — A local university and medical center have team up in a crucial time.

What looks like a small building on Bethel University’s campus is actually one of their best tools in helping control the spread of coronavirus.

“Before students came back, we had not been testing. Once they did, we began testing,” said Dr. Joseph Hames, Bethel College of Health Sciences Vice President.

The Bethel on-campus clinic is run by the McKenzie Medical Center, in a partnership with the university.

In addition to the regular checkups and other testing that can be done, the clinic is spearheading efforts for COVID-19 testing at Bethel.

“We said, ‘Well, would you like to open, essentially a satellite clinic on the Bethel campus, because we have this facility,'” Hames said.

“We didn’t test everybody that came on campus, only those that have been exposed or are showing symptoms have been tested,” he said.

The university posts numbers from the clinic, which is staffed by medical center employees.

Even beyond COVID-19, the clinic goes a long way in helping Bethel students and staff feel comfortable.

“We have had increased patient traffic through here since this has started, and the students appreciate having some place that they can just walk to,” Hames said.

The clinic helps speed up the process with contact tracing on campus since they can immediately relay information to the university.

Employees with the clinic hope that the clinic will remain a unique help on campus, even through all the hectic times.

“We spent a lot of time and effort this summer developing some policies and protocols to try and keep people safe,” Hames said.

The numbers posted on their website do not include tests administered by other organizations.

Only Bethel students and faculty can be tested at the on-campus clinic.