Become a vital partner in the fight against the spread of COVID-19 in your community.
Governor Kate Brown and the Oregon Health Authority have both identified Contact Tracers as vital roles for county and city health departments to ensure the safe re-opening of business. Contact Tracers from all backgrounds are needed throughout Oregon to help track and monitor the spread of COVID-19. If you are interested in serving in this critical public health role, Portland Community College has a contact tracer course that will set you on the path.
What is a Contact Tracer?
A contact tracer tracks the people who may have been infected by COVID-19 through contact with an infected individual. Contact tracers get in touch with these individuals and collect information about any further contact they may have had during their most infectious periods.
Why is Contact Tracing So Relevant?
The long incubation period for COVID-19 and its high contagion rate have made it difficult to contain. Infected individuals have a several-day window in which they can infect others without realizing they have contracted the illness. Contact tracers aim to decrease the spread of this illness by identifying potentially infected parties and encouraging them to self-quarantine and/or get tested to reduce the number of others they come into contact with.
Bringing Training Into the Workplace
Many businesses need contact tracers within specific workplace environments. They are able to trace exposure through the workplace or in customer interactions. The training provided in this course can prove exceptionally valuable, since contact tracers will learn how to handle these conversations with cultural sensitivity and patience. PCC is also able to adapt the training and bring it into specific workplaces.
What Happens During Contact Tracer Training?
Information covered in program includes:
Basic information about COVID-19. Students will receive a basic-level understanding of what is currently known about the disease and how it can impact them and their communities.
HIPPA information. HIPAA protects patient confidentiality. While COVID-19 has caused a shift in the way doctors and state officials need to interact with confidential patient information, it has not changed patients' basic rights.
Cultural awareness and how it relates to contact tracing. Understanding the cultural divisions created by COVID-19 can help contact tracers conduct more effective interviews as they increase their targets' feeling of connection to them.
How to conduct a motivational interview. Motivational interviewing techniques can help encourage targets to share as much information as possible about their movements during their infectious period.
How to deliver a phone script. A phone script helps keep the conversation on track and ensures that the contact tracer gets all relevant information from the individual on the other end of the phone.
Are you interested in becoming a contact tracer? Do you need a job in a high-demand field? Check out our course today and enroll to get started in a rewarding position that can help decrease the spread of COVID-19 in our community.
