Hospital Assessment Centre still busy after 15 weeks

By Mark Ribble

LEAMINGTON — The COVID Assessment Centre at Erie Shores Health- Care is still busy on a daily basis, with members of the community coming forth to be tested.

“We want people to know that they don’t need an appointment,” said Arms Bumanlag, Director of Communications and Public Relations for the hospital.

Erie Shores HealthCare has been running the Assessment Centre since April 16.

Bumanlag wants to stress that getting tested is as easy as ever.

“Normally, it’s about a 15-minute turnaround from the time you park until you’re on your way to the car,” he said.

As stated , there’s no need for an appointment. You just need to bring your health card, go through the screening process and get tested.

Results are available after about 72 hours through the Ontario Ministry of Health website.

The Assessment Centre currently sees about 120 patients per day, and is open seven days a week from 8 am until 6 pm, even on holidays.

Anyone with a scheduled surgery is required to be tested prior to admittance and they’ve set aside an early dedicated 8-9 am time for those people to get through the process quickly.

Any larger groups, like workplaces who want to test their staff, are asked to contact Assessment Centre Manager Annette Scott via email at annette.scott@eshc.org.

The Erie Shores HealthCare team has been busy throughout the pandemic with many different aspects of healthcare and Bumanlag says that staff morale remains high, despite the grinds of almost six months of COVID.

“That’s part of my job,” he said. “The staff here are wonderful and I want to help them any way I can.”

The COVID-19 Assessment Centre at Erie Shores HealthCare is open and ready to do your testing. Stop in and see one of these local heroes at the hospital. Photo submitted

The Erie Shores team is currently monitoring the situation with the Agrifood sector and is ready to help with the re-opening of the Agri-food Assessment Centre at the former Sherk Complex.

“We will assist where we are needed,” he said.

The Erie Shores team has taken the lead on the field health assessment team as they work with their healthcare partners to help those who have tested positive and those who might need follow-up care or hospitalization.

Meanwhile, the hospital is going through its final process for the changeover to Erie Shores HealthCare from LDMH, by changing email addresses within the hospital. All emails will now go to a eshc.org email address.

“You can still reach us through our ldmh. org emails, which are being forwarded to our new ones, but we’re asking everyone to update their contacts to enable a smooth transition,” he said.

If you’ve been tested at the ESHC Assessment Centre for COVID-19 and awaiting results, you can find a link on their website at www.erieshoreshealthcare.ca to the ministry results portal. If you don’t have access to a computer, you can call the hospital at 519-326-2373, extension 4263, Monday through Friday form 8-4. Please keep in mind that you will need your health card handy and test results won’t be available for 72 hours after the test.