Pictured above, a Medstar Health associate prepares to administer a Covid-19 test at MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital.
At a Thursday afternoon press conference in the spring of 2020, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan issued his first round of statewide closures due to the rise in COVID-19 cases, announcing that all public schools would officially close the following Monday.
On the very next day, MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital opened its drive-through COVID-19 testing site—becoming the first hospital in the region to offer residents drive-through testing for the virus.
“We understood very early on that testing was critical to reducing community spread,” says Stephen Michaels, MD, chief operating officer and chief medical officer, MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital. “We’re a small but nimble organization, and we knew we had the capacity to get this set up quickly and efficiently.”
He says the first step in getting the testing site operational was brainstorming ideas on ways to allow for traffic flow. Since the hospital had previously conducted drive-up community flu clinics, Dr. Michaels realized a similar setup would be ideal for administering COVID-19 tests.
After addressing other logistical concerns, and acquiring enough Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for associates, the hospital was ready to offer testing.
Being among the first testing sites of its kind in the region caused “a significant rush” in the early weeks, Dr. Michaels says, with some patients driving from as far as eight hours away to get tested.
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St. Mary’s County resident Sandra Denison, 61, who has used the drive-through testing site twice, says the helpfulness of MedStar Health associates at the site made the process much more efficient than she’d expected.
“The first time, I didn’t know what to expect. But everyone was so nice and helpful that it made everything much easier,” she says. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate what they’re all doing for us.”
For residents who cannot make it to the hospital for testing, Dr. Michaels says they’ve been “taking testing on the road” throughout the pandemic, visiting underserved communities to conduct testing—even setting up testing sites at locations determined to have the largest homeless populations in the county.
“We’re doing everything we can to keep all of our residents safe,” he says. “There’s such a strong community spirit here, and we’re proud to be a part of it.”