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

Conway Regional Health System and Conway's three institutions of higher education have been collaborating for several weeks to implement protocols and practices to help ensure the health and safety of students, faculty, and staff.

During this unprecedented time, this partnership brings together innovation, collaboration, and teamwork to build on and expand upon long-established working relationships.

As a community, the administration 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 speaking with one voice to the thousands of employees and students on campuses of higher education according to Sancy Faulk, Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Central Baptist College.

The partnership focuses on recommended best practices for each campus to keep their communities safe and healthy. The infection prevention team at Conway Regional has worked with the campus medical providers to understand their needs and provide guidance on 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.

The partnership is another innovative way the campuses are coming together to build on existing relationships to address the needs of each of the campus communities.

Additionally, this partnership enables robust testing for all college students in the city of Conway. Testing will occur with a provider order and will be facilitated by Conway Regional Laboratory Services.

This critical partnership will have an immediate impact in addressing COVID-19 on campuses and will help with surge testing when and if it's needed said Necie Reed, APRN at the Conway Regional Hendrix Medical Clinic.

For UCA, it's about ensuring a sustainable approach for managing COVID-19, including testing and mitigation of potential spread of the virus.

All three institutions of higher education plan to resume face-to-face instruction for the fall semester on Thursday, August 20, 2020.