STEGH opens assessment centre

St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital announced on Wednesday, April 15, that it had opened a COVID-19 assessment centre, but only for patients referred for testing by a physician or Southwestern Public Health.

Melissa Beilhartz, on behalf of the hospital, stressed that the centre would not be open to anyone else.

“Patients who arrive at the Assessment Centre without a referral and appointment will be instructed to follow-up with their primary care provider or public health for an assessment,” she wrote.

Access to the centre will be via a dedicated entrance off Hepburn Avenue.

Referred patients will undergo an assessment and a COVID-19 swab test, she said, and then instructed to self-isolate until the results were known.

The centre will be open at least four hours a day, seven days a week.

“We are taking this step in St. Thomas in response to the province’s enhanced testing strategy to protect the most vulnerable in our community and those who protect them, like our frontline health care workers and first responders,” STEGH President and Chief Executive Officer Robert Biron stated. “The goal is to identify cases early, contain them and prevent putting more people at risk.”

Patients were asked to come alone to the centre, unless they needed someone to help them.

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