By Corey Dobridnia, WCSO PIO
While the world was facing-off against the first global pandemic since SARS in 2003, federal and state governments frantically made live-saving decisions by putting new public health protocols in motion.
The COVID-19 virus was officially dubbed a pandemic in March of 2020 after barreling through 114 countries in three months, infecting over 118,000 people – and the spread was just getting started. During this time, jails across the U.S. were faced with an unthinkable task: minimize the spread of COVID-19 among inmate populations at the risk of jail staff and employees.
At Walton County Sheriff’s Office, an Incident Management Team was initiated, and protocols were strategized. During all briefings, it became more and more clear what the expectation was; public servants would now be asked to continue selflessly serving during a pandemic – risking their lives even more.
Detention deputies, nurses, and staff members at the Walton County Jail were asked to abandon innate instincts of self-preservation to keep those who were incarcerated safe from the spread of COVID-19. It was a huge ask knowing the dangers they would encounter with the possibility of infection looming.
In Walton County the emphasis was prevention and eliminating transmission through education, screening, isolation of suspected cases and relentless cleaning and sanitation.
Movement was minimized between PODS as much as possible, elective programs were discontinued, inmates were provided masks, and if multiple positive cases occurred in a single housing POD, positive cases remained in place until symptoms worsened.
The Jail’s Medical Director, Dr. James Howell was an invaluable asset to the facility overseeing cases and monitoring inmate and staff health.
Walton County Jail’s digital visitation (which was already in place before the pandemic) decreased the possibility of infection from the outside; allowing inmates to virtually connect with family while the facility was on lock down. “Tablets offer video visitation, phone calls, and chat so men and women who are jailed can continue to communicate with their families,” said Cory Godwin, Walton County Jail Director. “When the pandemic hit, we didn’t have to take away their connection to the outside world.”
In April, Walton County Sheriff’s Office began partnering with Walton County Health Department to vaccinate inmates with the Moderna two-step vaccine. Since that time, jail staff and health department employees have vaccinated more than 150 inmates incarcerated at the facility with the help of Shane Abbott, a local Pharmacist.
Walton County Sheriff’s Office has been using Correctek Spark technology for digital medical record management since 2019. “We do all of our documentation orders and all of our med pass through that system,” said Dawn Cooper, Walton County Jail Health Services Administrator and Licensed Practice Nurse. “We have access to any chart at any time. During med pass, everything is done on the computer right there in front of the inmate.”
“We have access to labs, vital signs, and any open orders,” Cooper added. We’re not pulling around charts, but instead, we’re scanning ID bands that can pull up the inmate’s medications and anything we might need to know. Mental health has access and we can see their notes and we can access it anywhere in the facility on the laptop.”
Digital medical charts made keeping track of inmate health much easier for the facility during a time where information flow was of the utmost importance. But, as positive cases from the pandemic heightened, staff numbers lingered at critical levels and those remaining worked 12 hour shifts to cover the losses in workforce. Still, employees remained vigilant and resilient.
Cooper was one of XX jail staff in the trenches when the pandemic hit and also tested positive for COVID-19 in 2020. As soon as she was able, Cooper returned to work. “This kind of nursing is different than any other nursing,” said Cooper. “It’s rewarding in its own way. These people still need to be cared for.”
Out of 155 inmates who tested positive at a facility that can hold up to 600, five were sent outside the walls to be hospitalized. Two were treated and gone approximately five days and returned to the jail and three were released on recognizance by a judge’s order. “We must not overlook the heroic manner in which jail staffs across the country have battled this new enemy,” said Walton County Sheriff Michael Adkinson. “Two rounds of COVID variants among the already existing dangers of working within a corrections environment is brave and deserves the utmost admiration.”
