Edmonton's drive-thru COVID-19 clinic a well-oiled machine
'Our job is public health so we want to keep our public healthy and safe'
When the novel coronavirus arrived in Alberta, public health restrictions forced many health workers to assume new roles.
Speech pathologist Stacey Mattheis, for example, moved to the frontlines in the COVID-19 crisis, swabbing people's throats at a makeshift drive-thru testing clinic.
In the last 10 weeks, Mattheis and her colleagues have taken samples from thousands and thousands of anxious Edmontonians, one vehicle at a time.
"It was our new job description, " Mattheis says. "There were some anxieties related to the environment and to the situation, but once we had the instruction and the training around the PPE and the process, it's a very easy situation to come into."
Workers are protected by gowns, gloves, masks and a face shield.
Learning curve
The drive-thru clinic, set up at the south Edmonton Eco Station, is designed to move as many patients through as quickly as possible.
To date, nearly 16,000 people have been swabbed at the clinic since it opened on March 15. It is one of two in the Edmonton region, with the second in Sherwood Park.
Two other Edmonton influenza assessment centres were initially used for swabbing as well, but are now closed.
The swabbers and support staff say they have the testing down to a routine, getting people in, tested and out within 10 minutes.
"It was definitely a learning curve when we started," Mattheis said.
One of the biggest challenges for the swabbers is changing their protective clothing each time a new patient drives up.
"For the most part, it's become pretty routine," Mattheis said.
All patients arriving at the clinic, open seven days a week, must have an appointment arranged by a registered nurse at 811.
IDs are checked before entering the centre and once inside, visitors are asked to turn off their vehicles and go through a short questionnaire.
The swab is taken, sealed in a test tube and shipped off to a lab for testing. The visitor is notified of the results within two days — one if the test is positive for COVID-19.
Patients are generally pleasant, Mattheis said.
"Even if they are anxious or uncertain, we're not having anybody come in really negative," she said.
Cheryn Fix, a clinical development nurse at a public health centre in west Edmonton, spends a couple of days a week at the drive-thru clinic, overseeing appointments and making sure it runs smoothly.
Sometimes, Fix says, they get thrown a curveball.
A couple of weeks ago, one of the large garage doors broke down near the end of the day with 60 vehicles still in line.
While they managed to get everyone through, it's the kind of issues that arise as staff strives to handle 14 vehicles at once and swabbing 90 patients in an hour.
Fix says she has seen a lot in her 25 years in health care, but the pandemic is testing the system and her colleagues.
"It's different from what we've ever done before, but it's something that we have to look at as a challenge and just embrace it and do what we need to do.
"Our job is public health so we want to keep our public healthy and safe."