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Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center will be opening the first of two drive-through COVID-19 testing sites on Friday, March 26 – providing a safe, effective option for their patients to receive testing, while reducing the risk to other patients and staff that is caused by testing for the virus within the clinics.
Testing is by appointment only. All patients must first be screened by a Virginia Garcia provider to ensure the test is appropriate for their circumstance. Individuals who are not Virginia Garcia patients or have not been assessed by a Virginia Garcia provider will not be eligible for testing.
“The health and safety of our patients and the community remains Virginia Garcia’s top priority.” said Gil Muñoz, Virginia Garcia CEO. “We are reminding our patients that while they may not consider themselves at risk, they can help to slow the spread and protect our most vulnerable community members by adhering to social distancing and staying at home.”
Virginia Garcia joins Oregon Health & Sciences University and Providence Health Systems in providing drive-through testing sites for their patients.
Only patients who have a testing referral from their Virginia Garcia provider will be tested at the drive-through locations. Patients will be given a day and time to be tested. NO DROP-INS are allowed. Patients without a doctor’s referral and an appointment will not be tested.
If you are not a Virginia Garcia patient, you are encouraged to contact your primary care provider and speak with them about your symptoms and the need for an appointment. If you do not have a primary care provider and would like to become a Virginia Garcia patient, you can find more information about enrollment at VirginiaGarcia.org.
“The launch of the drive-through testing clinic allows us to expand our ability to identify potentially positive Covid-19 patients beyond our five primary care clinics.” said Hazel Wheeler, Health and Safety Program Manager for Virginia Garcia. “The expanded testing will help to identify those that may have the virus more quickly, and provide them with the care they need while reducing the likelihood that they’ll spread it to others.”
The community is encouraged to help prevent the spread of illness and to support the response to this outbreak by staying informed and sharing reliable information. This is a very fluid situation and information will be updated at cdc.gov/coronavirus.
