Alberta Health Services is now offering a mobile COVID-19 assessment centre in St. Albert.
The centre, which opened Monday, is offering COVID-19 testing by appointment only, Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m..
Chrystal Ference, director of public health programs for the Edmonton zone, said these centres are a hybrid of drive-thrus and walk-in clinics.
“We thought this was a kind of neat, unique, creative way to blend the two. It definitely reduces the need for people to have to go into buildings,” she said.
Ference said they were unable to continue to do drive-thru clinics due to Occupational Health and Safety concerns with dense air and exhaust. These new clinics offer a similar sort of drive-thru feel, but people will still have to exit their vehicles.
“(People) would just book an appointment online as they’ve always done, select the site that meets their needs, or wherever there’s first availability, they would essentially drive up and there is designated parking stalls for them,” said Ference.
From there, people are expected to wait in their vehicle until they receive a text or phone call from the nurse on site. The nurse would then give them the number of the unit and the person would exit their vehicle and walk to the appropriate unit.
Ference said this is the first time they’ve tried this method of COVID testing and they were excited they could work with municipalities to find the space for these sites.
“It is providing you that access for suburban and rural Albertans. It's little bit closer to home, especially during our Alberta inclement weather days,” she said.
The City of St. Albert has been advocating for a local site since a task force was put into place in August. Mayor Cathy Heron said she is pleased that residents finally have a local option.
"It's been a concern from our recovery task force, from council and from residents in general about how far it is to go get a test. Even the one that opened up at the Expo Center has long lineups and it's not easy to get to. So I'm super pleased that Alberta Health was listening and decided to make that site available in St. Albert,” Heron said.
The units are currently able to take 150 appointments a day. Ference said the community has responded quite well and they are booked until mid-to-end of the week.
“I’m hoping it works well,” said Ference. “We're definitely looking for any feedback around them and the experiences that the clients have, before we make any changes, or potentially add more.”
The mobile assessment unit is located in the Servus Place parking lot at 400 Campbell Road. Altogether, four assessment sites were opened in Alberta, with other locations in Leduc, Sherwood Park and Spruce Grove. Anyone who is eligible for testing is encouraged to visit ahs.ca/covid to book a test.
