Beebe Healthcare hosts Drive-Thru COVID-19 Screening Event
LEWES, Del. – One by one, people concerned about having coronavirus in Delaware lined up at a drive-thru provided by Beebe Healthcare on Saturday to ease their fears.
“We know that there’s a lot of anxiety and fear around COVID-19 virus,” said Beebe Healthcare Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Rick Schaffner.
That is why Beebe Healthcare hosted a COVID-19 screening event in Lewes on Saturday to help provide some relief in a nationwide effort to contain the virus.
“People are starting to ask questions, there’s starting to be more fear, and we at Beebe Healthcare want to be there to educate, to reassure our community,” said Beebe Healthcare Director of Marketing & Communication, Christina Deidesheimer.
Nurses in full gear tested people who may have had similar symptoms, traveled outside the U.S. in the past couple weeks or got exposed to someone who tested positive for the virus.
In one area of the drive-thru, people got screened for COVID-19 symptoms like coughing, fever and difficulty in breathing.
“So, we have registered nurses here assessing and screening the patients as they come in and then we have a team that will register them so we get all the results back to the right physicians, which is critically important for us if they require the testing,” said Schaffner.
After patients got screened, nurses then determined whether or not they needed to take a COVID-19 test at another next station of the drive-thru.
Schaffner says right now with a shortage of test kits screening is a critical step moving forward.
“You may need testing in the future, but at this time there is a shortage of test kits across the country, we would advise you not to necessarily get tested at that point in time if you are screened as not needing it,” said Schaffner.
About 245 people participated in Saturday’s event, according to Deidesheimer.
If you missed out, Beebe Healthcare tells says they are looking to provide more drive-thru COVID-19 screening events in the future.
