Mercy
Iowa City has partnered with Rural
Health & Safety of Eastern Iowa to host free COVID-19 testing at a mobile
clinic for those who qualify, while supplies last. Leaders with Mercy Iowa City
say it is important to continue to make every effort to slow and stop the
spread of COVID-19 while community members are starting to receive the vaccine.
On
Tuesday, March 23 from 3:30 – 5:30 p.m., the Johnson County Fairgrounds,
located at 3109 Old Highway 218 South in Iowa City, will host the COVID-19
testing clinic in Building C. This will be a drive-through clinic, allowing
patients to stay in their car during the testing process. Community members
will be tested on a first come, first serve basis.
This
is not a COVID-19 vaccination clinic and will only provide COVID-19 testing.
Community members will not receive a vaccine at this event.
The
March 23 event marks the seventh clinic Mercy Iowa City and Rural Health &
Safety of Eastern Iowa have partnered to provide. Mercy Iowa City leaders involved
in planning the COVID-19 testing clinic say hosting this event now is
increasingly important as more people receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
“While
most people wait for their turn to get the COVID-19 vaccine, we as a community
need to do our part to stop the spread of COVID-19,” said Stephen Scheckel, MD,
Chief Medical Officer for Mercy Iowa City. “COVID-19 continues to be prevalent
with emerging variants that are even more transmissible and deadly, so there is
a strong need to be aggressive with testing. As we move closer to herd
immunity, now is not the time to let our guard down.”
Testing
is recommended for anyone with symptoms of COVID-19, anyone who works in close
association with many others or people who have taken part in activities that
put them at higher risk for COVID-19 because they cannot socially distance as
needed.
Potential
symptoms include:
High
Risk: New cough, shortness of breath/difficulty
breathing, new loss of taste or smell
Low
Risk: Fever, headache, muscle/body aches, fatigue,
sore throat, runny nose, congestion, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea
People
are encouraged to call Mercy On Call at 319-358-2767 or Rural Health &
Safety of Eastern Iowa at 319-530-6002 for more information. Thank you to the
State Hygienic Lab, Johnson County Emergency Management Agency, Johnson County
Public Health and the Johnson County Fairgrounds and Rural Health and Safety of
Eastern Iowa for their leadership and willingness to help.
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About Mercy Iowa City
Mercy
Iowa City is an acute care hospital and regional referral center for southeast
Iowa. Mercy has received: the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) 5 Star
Rating as a Top 2% of all hospitals for the 4th consecutive year,
the only hospital in Iowa to do so; the Fortune IBM/Watson Health 100 Top
Hospital ranking; the accredited Chest Pain Center with the American Heart
Association Gold Plus Achievement Award for Stroke Care; the Top 100 Community
Hospitals Award in 2018 and 2019 from Becker’s Review; the Press Ganey Guardian
of Excellence Award for Mercy’s Emergency Care Unit by achieving 95 percent for
patient experience for 13 consecutive years; and the Center of Distinction
Award from Healogics for Mercy’s Wound and Vein Center. Mercy has 234 acute
care beds, 25 private rooms for outpatient surgery, a 26-bed nursery with Level
II Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, 28 primary and specialty care clinics, a
medical staff of 250 physicians representing all major medical specialties and
most subspecialties, and 1,350 employees. It was founded by the Sisters of
Mercy in 1873 and became an affiliate of MercyOne in 2017. To learn more visit www.mercyiowacity.org.