Mobile COVID-19 testing on Orcas Island will begin Dec. 21

||| FROM AAIMEE JOHNSON for ORCAS FAMILY HEALTH CENTER |||

Orcas Family Health Center (OFHC) has organized a mobile SARS-COVID-19 testing project. This project does not replace the COVID-19 testing that is currently being performed at the UW Orcas Clinic or OFHC; it is an additional option for the Orcas community. Patients can still reach out to their primary care providers at either office for testing guidance. Testing will be available for Orcas Island residents, full or part time, and their family members. At this time, it will be a drive through event without appointments and patient insurance will be billed; however there will be no charges to those who are tested.

Catkin Café, Orcas Island Artworks, the Orcas Island Yacht Club, the West Sound Community Club, and the Orcas Senior Center have graciously joined the effort by allowing OFHC staff to set up testing sites once a week on their properties from December 2020 through March 2021.

• The OFHC testing teams will set up on the Catkin Café side of the building in Olga for testing between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. on Monday December 21 and Monday December 28
• They will set up for testing at the OIYC property in West Sound from noon to 2 p.m. on Sunday December 27 and Sunday January 3.
• On January 7, the Orcas Senior Center will be added to the weekly testing schedule on Thursdays from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m..

The Monday, Thursday, Sunday schedule will continue through mid March. Any testing day may be cancelled last minute due to weather (i.e. high winds, heavy rains, dangerous road conditions).

Along with hundreds of Rural Health Clinics across the nation, OFHC received CARES Act funding designated for COVID testing and related expenses which made this project possible. Orcas Island Community Foundation recently reached out to OFHC to offer additional financial support if needed and Anne Presson, superintendent for the Orcas Island Health Care District has mentioned the possibility of District support. It is therefore possible, depending on where we are at in this pandemic next spring that the mobile testing project could continue.

Questions? Contact Aaimee Johnson at ajohnson@orcasfamilyhealthcenter.org or Shila Wachtel at swachtel@orcasfamilyhealthcetner.org or at the OFHC office number 360-376-7778.