BECKLEY, WV (WOAY) – Beckley ARH held their first drive-thru viral respiratory screening today outside of their Southern West Virginia Clinic.
What we’ve seen so far are testing sites requiring a doctor’s order but that was not the case today as anyone could come without a doctor’s order and forty people did.
“The whole point for this clinic is to ease traffic into the hospital and in the clinics,” BARH CEO Rocco Massey said. “That’s the purpose for this viral clinic.”
Massey said the purpose was to also give those in the area experiencing symptoms access to testing.
They required that all patients come with their I.D. and insurance card. Even if they didn’t have insurance they were not turned away and could still be tested.
But they had to meet the requirements like a fever of over 100 degrees and coughing or shortness of breath.
“The patient goes through the screen. They’re evaluated,” Massey said. “They get their temperature taken then they’ll actually see a provider in consultation based on that screening.”
They had Sandra Stack, a nurse practitioner, on the scene who could do the doctor’s order right there on the spot.
“That’s what I’m for,” she said. “If you feel you need to be screened, we will screen you. And then I can put in the order to do the testing for you.”
Everyone who met the requirements got screen for strep, flu A, flu B and then also got a respiratory panel.
That takes about 40 minutes to test all of that in the BARH’s labs, and if all those came back negative, the swab they used for flu will then go on to the state lab to be tested for COVID-19.
As Raleigh County continues to see more confirmed cases, Massey believes an increase is coming but testing will also allow us to see when it will it start to taper off.
“We know that there is a wave coming. We see it ramping up every day. I’m excited to see it begin to level off. That’s what I’m looking for,” Massey said.
BARH plans to do this next week and we will keep you updated on those dates and times.
