Centura – Mercy Regional Medical Center is now providing seven-day-a-week community COVID-19 testing to La Plata County residents, beginning immediately and continuing for as long as needed.
“As access to supply improves, we have progressively increased COVID-19 testing. We have now expanded testing to rural communities with limited testing access as Colorado moves towards easing shelter-in-place restrictions,” stated Dr. Shauna Gulley, Chief Clinical Officer for Centura Health. “Social distancing, hand hygiene and masking remain critically important in our fight against this pandemic. Additional testing is one more important resource we can provide to these communities.”
Testing will be available from 9am to 2pm Monday through Friday and from 9am to 12 noon Saturday and Sunday at Centura’s Centers for Occupational Medicine clinic at 810 3rd St., Suite 202, in Durango. Any community member experiencing known COVID-19 symptoms can call 970-764-1790 to speak to a Centura Health Physicians Group (CHPG) medical professional to receive a testing order. Same-day, walk-in testing will be available with an order from the medical provider. The community COVID-19 testing program is open to all residents.
“The nationwide shortage of CDC-approved COVID-19 test kits has been well documented,” Mercy Regional Medical Center interim CEO Mike Murphy said. “At Mercy and across our Centura Health system, the focus in the weeks before COVID-19’s arrival in Colorado and in the weeks since has been to ensure adequate testing supplies, medical resources and surge capacity for our community’s most critically ill patients as well as for the health care providers and first responders providing care on the front lines of the pandemic.”
To date, Centura has followed CDC and CDPHE protocol in prioritizing testing for Tier 1 and Tier 2 patients. The new community COVID-19 testing program will allow us to add Tier 3 patients, meaning anyone with known symptoms of COVID-19 can be tested with a medical provider referral. Most test results should be returned within 24 to 48 hours.
“This is wonderful news for the community and this additional testing will give us a better picture of the COVID-19 activity in our area,” Liane Jollon, San Juan Basin Health Executive Director.
“Our priority, first and foremost, is to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our associates and our physicians at all times,” Murphy said. “For it is our caregivers that ensure we provide the compassionate care our community needs, and that our Mission calls us to deliver.”