Anson Record file photo
Health Director Fred Thompson speaks to the Anson County Board of Commissioners at their regular meeting earlier this month.
WADESBORO — Anson County Health Director Fred Thompson will meet with county leaders this week to discuss the issue of nurse salaries following Thompson’s insistence at the September Board of Commissioners meeting that he can’t afford to pay nurses a competitive salary at the department’s current funding level.
The meeting will be between Thompson, Health Department Administrative Officer Evonne Burr, Board of Commissioners Chairman Jarvis Woodburn, and Interim County Manager Ray Allen. Thompson at the meeting earlier this month said that the pandemic has continued to put pressure on the department’s staff to meet the needs for COVID-19 testing while providing regular services, and three vacancies in their nursing staff have compounded the issue.
At issue is that nurses the department has recently interviewed declined the positions due to the low salary offered by the county. Thompson said that it’s “irrational” to expect nurses to work for pay that is lower than the minimum of the range of salaries for this level of positions.
“We need to get this on our radar collectively because I can’t recruit quality clinical staff below the minimum of the range of the position I’m trying to recruit them for,” Thompson told the commissioners.
The commissioners agreed to address the issue, and Woodburn directed Allen to work on a solution. Other commissioners offered to form a committee that would work on this as well.
The Health Department is now contracting with a state contractor, Optum, out of Charlotte, which will take over all COVID-19 testing for Anson County, according to Thompson. All entities that currently provide testing will continue to be able to do so, but Optum will be able to offer 5 days a week, whereas the Health Department only does it on Monday and Wednesday afternoons.
“Optum will be able to provide more of an ‘on demand’ service than what we can provide,” Thompson said in an email. “This will be a significant benefit to people who need a negative COVID test in order to return to work, to school, etc.”
Thompson added that the Health Department will stop providing routine COVID testing once Optum is up and running, their service is proven to be going well, and the public is aware of the change.
Optum is funding by federal COVID funds through the state.
The new Optum drive-thru testing site off Morven Road at the old hospital is scheduled to open Sept. 29, according to Nursing Supervisor Dana Thomas. They will be testing 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday – Friday with PCR tests. They will test anyone over a year old.
