MyTAG supports Cape Fear Community College with COVID-19 Health & Safety

Cape Fear Community College (CFCC) is a thriving institution of higher learning in Wilmington, North Carolina, and a member of the NJCAA Region 10 Athletics Association. It has a winning tradition on the field and in the classroom. Ryan Mantlo, Director of Athletics, is tasked with providing quality student-athlete programs, each program being built on a foundation of integrity, excellence and scholarship. In fulfilling this mission, the top priority of the College is to keep its students safe and healthy.

COVID-19: Prepare, Persevere, Prosper
The emergence of COVID-19 created an unprecedented set of circumstances and challenges for CFCC, as it has for athletic programs at all levels. Following the CDC recommendations on how to protect players and coaches, CFCC began to formulate a plan for daily Health & Safety (H&S) screenings and increased cleaning protocols for the facilities.

CFCC began preparing a paper-based system to track student-athlete responses to COVID-19 screening questions, and to record daily temperature readings. The system would rely heavily on manual data entry and actions to be taken by the coaches and training staff if symptoms were presented, or if a temperature threshold was exceeded. It soon became clear that a more efficient system was required to check in players for activities, with an automated process that would trigger the established protocols for dealing with a potential infection. In addition to the health screenings, CFCC needed to set a rigorous cleaning routine for the newly renovated Schwartz Center, which is home to the men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball programs. This space is shared, with scheduled times for each team, and a full cleaning and sanitization of the gym, locker rooms, training room, player lounge, and weight room between sessions.

Efficient and User Friendly Solution
MyTAG partnered with CFCC to find a solution utilizing its secure NFC tags, which cannot be cloned or copied. With the help of MyTAG’s distribution partner, Anixter, and the support of a local IT integrator, CFCC was able to initiate daily H&S screenings for all student-athletes and coaching staff, and establish a rigid cleaning schedule for the Schwartz Center.

Each student-athlete is given a durable NFC tag that will attach to their equipment bag or keychain. At participation check-in, the coach taps the player’s tag with their mobile device, which opens the H&S screening questions and allows the electronic recording of information. Answers and temperatures are stored in the cloud for future reference, and historical reports can be generated at any time. If a temperature is above the threshold of 100.3°F, an email is automatically sent to administration for immediate action.

Reports of possible exposure without symptoms are cached by the MyTAG system and sent as an end of day email to administration, for follow up the next day.

Proven Cleaning Regimes
Proof of Compliance tags were placed in the critical areas of the Schwartz Center, and the MyTAG software was programmed to establish the necessary cleaning schedules. Upon arrival at each area, the cleaning crew taps the tag with their mobile device, which opens a checklist of cleaning procedures that need to be executed. Upon completion of these tasks, the cleaning crew taps the tag again and closes out that assignment. Utilizing MyTAG’s Proof of Compliance tags ensures that the cleaning crew was at the location at the specified time, that the cleaning regimen was followed, and service level agreements were met. Administration can log in to the MyTAG dashboard and view completed and upcoming cleaning schedules and receive immediate email alerts when tasks are not accomplished according to schedule.

Ryan Mantlo explained: “With all of the challenges that this pandemic has presented, we needed a system that was easy to set up and use, efficient, and cost effective. We feel like we found the pot of gold with MyTAG!” 

Additional Benefits of the MyTAG System
In addition to the H&S screenings and Proof of Compliance for cleaning, CFCC is taking advantage of the incident reporting capabilities of the MyTAG solution. At any time, a coach or student-athlete can activate their secure NFC tag and generate a report with an accompanying photo or video. Once submitted, this report is automatically emailed to administration, providing instant notification and details on events. Administration can move these reports to a Daily Occurrence Log for future reference, which can be appended with subsequent documents such as an injury, bullying, harassment information or a discipline report.

Up and running quickly
Some of the staff were initially uneasy about the new system, as they were not confident with technology. However, with full online training systems and videos available to refer back to, they quickly realized that the time dedicated to record keeping and administration would be significantly reduced, and that the immediate reporting features were crucial to providing a safe environment for their student-athletes.

Ryan confirmed: “Chad and his team at MyTAG were terrific in helping our staff get comfortable with the new system very quickly. Consistent communication is vital to keeping our studentathletes and staff safe at all times and MyTAG gives them a direct voice to administration in real time, while providing confidentiality to all.”

Chad Corbin, North American Sales Director MyTAG commented: “The simple to use MyTAG system supports rigorous compliance checking and reporting, and facilitates consistent data collection and analysis for the Department of Athletics. I am delighted that Cape Fear Community College has embraced technology that will help to keep their student-athletes safe and healthy.”