Wake Tech EMS students screen DMV employees for COVID-19 before work

The partnership gives local students hands-on experience and the credits they need to graduate while reducing spread of COVID-19 in our community.

Like at many offices and businesses, employees at North Carolina DMV headquarters in Raleigh are required to have their temperatures taken before entering the building.

Since August, more than 50 Wake Tech students have done daily temperature checks and COVID-19 screenings for all staff working at the DMV in Raleigh.

The screenings are meant to limit potentially spreading the virus at the workplace and into our community, as some DMV employees interact with the public.

According to Dr. Ginny K. Renkiewicz, who heads Wake Tech's EMS program, 46 EMT students who started the program in the fall are required to complete six shifts each.

Renkiewicz said the DMV partnership is crucial because many clinics where students would usually work for hours are closed due to the pandemic.

"Students get to play an active role in responding to the pandemic and learn essential communication skills required of EMTs and paramedics by interacting with the public," Renkiewicz said. "We are blessed to have this opportunity available to our students."