Highline Mushrooms first grower to utilize the Agri-Food Worker Assessment Centre

LEAMINGTON — The Nature Fresh Farm Recreation Centre (formerly Sherk Centre) started operations at 9am today with several buses of Agrifood workers coming to get COVID-19 testing and assessment by Essex County medical professionals.

“We join Dr. Moncur as well as Mayor Macdonald and our elected officials in being concerned about the rate COVID-19 is spreading through our communities. As an industry leader and one the of the largest private employers in the county, we feel it is important to show our associates and our community residents that we take this threat seriously. We absolutely prioritize our associates’ health and well-being as well as our community responsibility over every other priority we have. We urged all our associates to get tested and expect over 200 tests to get completed today.” - Aaron Hamer, President and CEO, Highline Mushrooms

Putting people first, Highline Mushrooms sent over 100 workers on a voluntary basis to get tested and assessed on Tuesday morning. Highline Mushrooms hopes to have other growers in the region utilize this resource for the community.

“This initiative is creating equitable access to testing to workers in the Agrifood sector who may have barriers to being tested in our other Assessment Centre, which may not be easy to access for those without transportation or who are working during the day.” - Dr. Ross Moncur, Interim CEO and Chief of Staff for Erie Shores HealthCare.

Medical teams would like more growers in the region to access the structure put in place for the community and our workers to get the care they need.