BUCKHANNON – The staff of the Upshur-Buckhannon Health Department are back in their building after the completion of several renovations.

Sue McKisic, nurse director at the Upshur-Buckhannon Health Department, said its staff members have returned to their building at 15 North Locust Street in Buckhannon. McKisic outlined all the renovations and encouraged the community to check out the new space.

“We have two exam rooms instead of one now, and before we had one, so they had to walk three-fourths of the way through the building,” McKisic said. “Now they’re all in the upper front area. We put in an ADA-accessible bathroom, and we had to be in compliance with the state, so we have a separate med room, and we have a separate lab.”

One large office has been turned into two offices for the three nurses on staff, the sanitarian has his own office, and McKisic also has her own office.

“We have set up our two exam rooms so we can do more patients at one time, and also, we have a really nice exam chair if somebody would feel faint when we take their blood or in situations like that,” McKisic said. “We can put the chair in the Trendelenburg position, and it’s electric, so it also makes it easier for giving childhood immunizations because the mom can still hold their child while we give immunizations.”

The renovations also included new transportable cabinets and two portable sinks.

“They can be moved out if we would have a disaster; we could take those with us,” McKisic said. “It will make things easier if there is some kind of disaster in Upshur County or if we have to move off-site.”

The health department will also begin to offer its first round of naloxone trainings starting Tuesday, May 2, at 5 p.m.

“We know there’s a need for it in Upshur County,” McKisic said. “I serve on the board for Upshur County EMS, and we know there’s a lot of overdoses in Upshur County, and we know with the college in session, there’s more people in our county. I think all their security guys at Wesleyan are trained, and I believe people in the frat houses and in the sorority houses have the training.”

People interested in participating must be 18 years old or have a parent present, and the training is free.

“It’s no charge for the training and no charge for the naloxone; they do have a little bit of paperwork they have to fill out,” McKisic said. “If you use it, you can come back to our health department, and we will give you more.”

McKisic said law enforcement, EMS and fire department personnel participate in naloxone training, but those caring for elderly adults should also consider signing up.

“A lot of elderly people take an opioid for pain, arthritis and or other similar conditions, and if you have somebody who is elderly and has a little bit of dementia, they might not remember if they took their medicine that morning, and it’s noon, and they take it again,” McKisic said. “In that situation, they have doubled their dose, and they don’t even know.”

Call 304-472-2810 to reserve your spot or if you have questions. You can keep up-to-date with happenings at the health department on their Facebook page.