Protecting colleagues, patients and community members is Northern Arizona Healthcare’s top priority during this time. To help prevent the spread of COVID-19, we will be standing up a collection site at Verde Valley Medical Center beginning Thursday, March 26, to collect specimens that will be sent away to labs authorized to perform testing.
Patients need a written order from a physician or provider for a sample to be collected. They can receive this by calling their primary care provider’s office. Only those with symptoms consistent with the screening criteria will have a sample collected. Only one person per vehicle will be swabbed.
The site will be open 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and is subject to opening or closing based on the availability of supplies to collect the samples. Plans for setting up a collection site have been underway since last week, pending the availability of enough supplies to operate it. Recent shipments make it possible for the site to open. Continued operation depends upon supplies being available.
“The number of kits to collect samples from patients is limited, and we are making sure to keep a supply for the critically ill who may need hospitalization, before we collect samples from those with less serious symptoms,” said Ron Haase, Northern Arizona Healthcare Chief Administrative Officer for the Verde Valley. “Availability of supplies and best practice recommendations from the Centers of Disease Control (CDC) are changing daily and our team is working together across Northern Arizona to move quickly in our charge to care for our communities.”
Patients will be notified by phone call as to their results, once received by Northern Arizona Healthcare from the testing facility.
If you have any questions, please call the COVID-19 Public Hotline at 1-833-708-0894.