Work is ongoing to get a Covid-19 Contact Tracing Centre up and running in the Mayo campus of GMIT in Castlebar, it is not expected that the centre in Castlebar will be open before next week.
GMIT staff commenced work on Monday, March 30, as contract tracing volunteers in a newly established Contact Tracing Centre in the Dublin Road (Galway ) campus, set up in partnership with the HSE.
Over 80 GMIT volunteers have been trained by HSE public health workers during the past two weeks to begin the work of both establishing the contacts of those who have tested positive for Covid-19 and to communicate with those contacts. GMIT has also donated laboratory consumables and equipment to a number of hospitals.
Dr Seamus Lennon, Acting Assistant Registrar, GMIT and HSE Co-ordinator, said: "We were inundated with offers from GMIT staff members who wished to volunteer to work as contact tracers, and we have worked hard to establish the centre as soon as possible. This work will support the national effort in this time of crisis."
Brian Murphy, Assistant National Director, Strategic Planning, HSE, who is managing the establishment of the Contact Tracing Centres, praised the collaboration and work by GMIT management and personnel, saying: "The leadership shown by all our colleagues in GMIT in making available and fitting out the infrastructure at their campus and mobilising their own colleagues to participate in the Contact Tracing Centre has been immense.
"There has been a lot of work carried out in an extremely short time with a great sense of purpose. The response has been phenomenal and the HSE is delighted with their fantastic support. GMIT’s input will help hugely to curtail the spread of Covid 19."
