Two Drive-Up Clinics Available to Test for COVID-19 in Lewis County by Appointment Only

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A drive-up respiratory clinic in Chehalis began seeing patients who are feeling symptoms of COVID-19 on Monday and a drive-up testing clinic in Morton will see its first patients Saturday.

Mary’s Corner’s drive-up respiratory clinic and the Arbor Health Morton Hospital drive-up testing clinic are by appointment only. 

The two drive-up clinics are relatively similar, but Mary’s Corner drive up respiratory clinic’s goal is to see patients experiencing mild symptoms of COVID-19 to alleviate crowding at hospitals and Arbor Health Morton Hospital drive-up testing clinic will initially be for health care workers, first responders and the most at-risk people.

Mary’s Corner Drive-Up Respiratory Clinic 

On Monday Dr. Robert McElhaney of Mary’s Corner Medical Clinic introduced what the clinic is calling a “drive-up respiratory clinic,” an operation that will be open Monday through Friday from 3 to 5 p.m. beginning on Monday, March 23.

Mary’s Corner doesn’t call the drive-up clinic a “testing clinic,” but they are still equipped to test for COVID-19.

The drive-up clinic is located at Mary’s Corner’s stationary location at 4254 Jackson Highway in Chehalis, and can be reached at 360-262-3966 to make an appointment.

Dr. McElhaney said the goal of their drive-up clinic is to relieve urgent care hospitals of cases that are showing milder symptoms of COVID-19 to allow them to focus on more severe cases.

“If you think, ‘well, maybe I’ve got it. I have a low-grade fever, I have a cough, but I don’t know if I’ve been exposed to anybody’ … it would be nice if that person could know whether they had it or not and not have to go to urgent care or the worst case would be the emergency room,” Dr. McElhaney said.

Tests will be administered at Dr. McElhaney’s discretion. He said in the first two days the drive-up clinic was open, he tested seven patients and is still awaiting results. The results take three to four days to get back from a lab.

The clinic has about 150 test kits available and Dr. McElhaney said they are waiting to see how the response is to their drive-up clinic before they try to obtain more.



“If we get a huge turnout of people and it starts to increase, what will remain to be seen is whether we can get the supplies to continue the testing,” Dr. McElhaney said.

By his own estimate their drive-up respiratory clinic sees about three patients every hour. 

 

Arbor Health Morton Hospital Drive-Up Testing Clinic

On Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Arbor Health Morton Hospital’s drive-up testing clinic will start testing health care workers, first responders and most at risk persons such as anyone 60 years or older, the immunosuppressed, pregnant women and people with a heart disease, lung disease or diabetes, said Arbor Health Morton Hospital spokesperson Diane Markham.

The drive-up clinic will be at the Bob Lyle Community Center in Morton, accessible on Main Street next to the elementary school. To schedule an appointment call 360-496-3773.

Markham said hospital staff will be working from tents and patients’ cars administering tests wearing full Tyvek suits to protect themselves. She doesn’t want patients to be alarmed by the staff in the all-white protection suits, but it is in the hospital’s best interest.

“Obviously it’s to protect them from exposure (but also) to preserve our supply of personal protective equipment (PPE),” Markham said. “Because all hospitals are struggling to renew their supply of PPEs.”

Morton’s drive-up testing clinic will test about one patient every 15 minutes, Markham said, and it is their expectation that they will test 24 people a day for the weekend. Markham added that Arbor Health Morton Hospital hopes to have more drive-up testing clinics around East Lewis County in the future and be able to test more people when test kits become more available.