THUNDER BAY – The COVID-19 testing trailer at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre is about to be a thing of the past.
Instead, hospital officials are busy preparing a new testing facility inside the medical building adjacent to the hospital.
It’s being done for a variety of reasons, said Jackie Park, the clinical co-ordinator of the COVID-19 assessment centre at the hospital.
First and foremost is the weather.
As winter approaches, a temporary testing trailer is not ideal, she said.
“Thunder Bay winters are long and harsh and we’d like to be able to sustain this. As everybody understands, the fall is going to bring a lot more testing with kids going back to school and we’d like to have something that’s a little more sustainable,” Park said.
The move indoors will also allow the hospital to ramp up its testing numbers, something the province is insisting upon as the pandemic continues.
The province is asking the hospital to increase the number of tests it does by 200 per cent.
With the possibility of a second wave coming, it’s important, Park said.
“We’ve done really well here in Thunder Bay, with low numbers, and we’d like to be able to continue to do that and testing is part of the strategy to do that,” she said.
“We will be able to work more efficiently out of one space. It’s certainly been difficult having our bookers, as well as our clerks who do all the registering in one location and then our staff who are doing the testing in the trailer outside of (the emergency department).”
To accommodate the new testing centre, the medical centre building is undergoing a revamp, with a ramp and separate entrance being added to the back of the building, facing the parking lot.
This is being done to keep as little interaction as possible between potential COVID carriers and both the general public and hospital staff.
Construction is expected to be completed in a couple of weeks.
Park said there will be three rooms available for testing when the project is complete, with interior modifications being minor.
The hospital is also planning to run weekly drive-through testing clinics in the parking lot next to the medical centre.
“We will have drive throughs for the next four Tuesdays in the morning from 7 to 11 here in this location. You can book those appointments by calling the 935-8100 number or by booking online at www.tbrhsc.net,” Parks said.
She added testing levels have fluctuated over the course of the pandemic, but they have noticed an upward trend in recent weeks.
