Kristina Wick, the Vicky B. Gregg Chair of Gerontology and an assistant professor in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga School of Nursing, has been appointed to serve on the Tennessee COVID-19 Long-Term Care Task Force.
The new task force was announced by Dr. Lisa Piercey, the commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Health. The task force is charged with addressing and implementing new policy solutions to address both immediate and future issues impacting long-term care facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The membership is broad and includes representatives from the Tennessee Departments of Health, Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, TennCare, the Commission on Aging and Disability and the Tennessee General Assembly.
The task force also includes representatives from advocacy organizations, health care providers and facility administrators, community behavioral health and long-term care facility residents and their family members.
Wick was chosen due to her community involvement with the geriatric population as well as her efforts in getting this group testing. She has worked with the geriatric population in the Chattanooga region for over a decade, starting as a family nurse practitioner at Alexian Pace before moving to the Galen Medical Group. She joined the UTC School of Nursing faculty in August 2018.
