By AMANDA DA SILVA
Michael Garron Hospital in East York has announced that it will be opening a COVID-19 assessment centre in collaboration with primary and community care providers in mid-March in anticipation of a possible increase in Coronavirus cases locally.
“We’ve been working with community partners since January to come up with ways to build capacity together if and when community spread occurs in Toronto,” said Michael Garron Hospital spokesperson Andrea Nameth.
The COVID-19 Screening and Assessment Centre will be located in the Medical Centre building at 840 Coxwell Ave., which is across the street from Michael Garron Hospital.
According to a recent news release from Michael Garron Hospital, the COVID-19 assessment centre will be operated as appointment only and be open for limited hours.
The hours and appointment-made service will change depending on the needs for COVID-19 screening in the community.
When patients arrive they will be screened for travel and contact history of how they may have possibly contracted the virus. They will also be asked about their symptoms.
After the screening, the patients will be assessed by a physician/nurse for COVID-19 if there is a possibility they may have it.
If the physician/nurse believes the patient meets certain criteria, they will be tested for the virus. This involves taking a sample from the nasal cavity on a cotton swab.
Toronto Public Health will be in contact with the patient if they have positive results for the test and instruction will be provided to them within two days.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) the common signs of COVID-19 is respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties.
The goal of the COVID-19 assessment centre is to respond as fast and as accurate to cases that may rise and help for those who are most vulnerable. In time they also hope to provide rapid testing if the amount of cases increase.
“The Ministry has asked health service providers to submit applications to become an assessment centre, so we do expect that there will be more across the city and province,” Nameth said.
The assessment centre is a demonstration of the East Toronto Health Partners Ontario Health Team in action with significant contributions from the East Toronto Family Practice Network and South East Toronto Family Health Team, said Michael Garron Hospital in a release.
For more information, please visit https://www.tehn.ca/coronavirus-covid-19-information-mgh-patients-and-visitors
UPDATE: Michael Garron Hospital has changed the location of the Assessment Centre since this story was first published. The COVID-19 Assessment Centre will now be located on the grounds of the hospital, 825 Coxwell Ave., in an area accessed by a separate entrance. Here is the link to our updated story https://beachmetro.com/2020/03/13/michael-garron-hospital-opens-covid-19-assessment-centre-at-site-on-hospital-grounds/
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