MCHD: Let's gooo... and keep Mountaineers safe!

Aug. 28, 2024

By Mary Wade Burnside

On Saturday, blue and gold will pepper the landscape and motorists will be making their way through traffic with WVU Mountaineer flags whipping in the wind and maybe some snacks and beverages chilling in a cooler. Soon after, the roar of fans and the whistles of referees will emanate from Milan Puskar Stadium, as football season officially begins.

Monongalia County Health Department employees will be there too, in our continuing effort to keep the community safe.

Like last year, we’ll be helping out with safety on three different fronts: our radiation response team walking around with detectors to participate in surveillance activities; a field hospital to keep hospital emergency visits down; and, as usual, our Environmental Health sanitarians providing initial inspections to any vendors and food trucks that will be operating during the event.

Jamie Moore, Threat Preparedness program manager, has been on the radiation response team since it began in 2015, back when he worked at the Marion County Health Department.

About two to four health department employees walk around the stadium and through the crowds using personal radiation detectors clipped to their belts, screening the facility and the attendees.

“It’s a fairly sensitive, extended-range instrument,” Moore said. “It’s possible for us to cover, depending on the strength of the source, 50 feet on each side of us, making 100-foot passes as we walk.”

So far, the only time radiation has been detected has been on individuals who have undergone medical treatment in which radiation is a factor, such as a recent stress test or cancer therapy.

This happens about four times a year, Moore said, and every time, team members have been able to hold a conversation with the individual and confirm the reason for radiation detection.

“As per our protocol, if they didn’t, or weren’t willing to engage in conversation, that would be a sign of activity and we would need to report that through our system, which in our case, would be to the WVU Police Department.

“Never have we had anybody that had to go to the WVU level,” Moore added.

Another Threat Preparedness staffer, chief of operations Joe Klass, has worked with radiation response before but starting last year, he teamed up with Mon EMS, Mon Health Medical Center and WVU Medicine to organize a field hospital to keep non-acute patients out of emergency departments.

This service was brought back last year when Mon EMS reached out to Monongalia County Health Department to participate.

The Caperton Indoor Facility houses the field hospital. EMS staffers and physicians already on site for the game will make the call if an individual’s issue requires a trip to the emergency department or if it’s something that can be dealt with at the field hospital.

“The idea is that we are treating non-acute patients, who might be intoxicated, have a sprained ankle, fainting from the heat, that sort of thing,” Klass said.

In 2023, about 22 patients were seen, keeping them from filling up emergency departments that might have to deal with car wrecks, heart attacks and more serious issues.

The number of game attendees who need some type of medical attention is higher than some might realize, ranging from around 45 to 200 at WVU football events, Klass said.

Finally, as always, MCHD Environmental Health sanitarians have historically been on site to inspect food vendors, and the first game of the season is always the most challenging because of new vendors.

Sanitarians will actually do a walk-through this week before game day, said Todd Powroznik, Environmental Health program manager

Then, he said, on the day of the game, there will be about 50 inspections on Saturday inside the stadium as well as six to eight food vendors or food trucks in the Willowdale Street lot.

“And there will be at least 10 to 15 tents for the boosters, alumni and companies,” that will also be serving food or having it catered, Powroznik noted. “So we will be doing about 70 inspections.”

So while the first game is a time of fun and relaxation for many, It’s all in a long day’s work for Monongalia County Health Department staffers.

Mary Wade Burnside is the public information officer at Monongalia County Health Department.