Madison County Mobile Testing makes free COVID-19 testing accessible

Institutional collaborators are partnering to bring free COVID-19 testing to various communities twice weekly via Madison County Mobile Testing.

Outreach program team members include Southern Illinois University School of Medicine’s M. Rebecca Hoffman, MD, coordinator Erica Austin and fourth-year medical student Tatiana Kelley; the SIUE School of Nursing’s Valerie Griffin, DNP, and Melissa Bogle, DNP, Family Nurse Practitioner DNP students Tyler Tanzyus, Brooke Buffington and Julie Milton; and Director of Public Health Toni Corona and staff from the Madison County Health Department. Lewis and Clark Community College is providing use of its mobile unit.

“This is important to our communities, because there are many individuals who are interested in being tested, but lack the ability to travel to a designated site,” explained Hoffman, program director of the SIU Alton Family Medicine Residency and director of Research and Scholarly Activity at SIU SOM. “In addition, many sites require registration and an appointment ahead of time. We are setting up in areas where a large number of people may have access to our services without needing transportation.”

The need is considered to be critical. Madison County cases have mounted to more than 1,800 with up to 75 new cases per day, as of July 28.

At the unit, testing is available at no cost for adults and children, ages six months and older. Anterior nasal swabs are performed by a healthcare provider from the SIUE SON or SIU SOM. This involves a cotton swab that is inserted just inside each nostril for five to 10 seconds. According to Hoffman, this is different from the deep test that goes through the nose into the throat.

Tests are bagged and transported directly to the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) the same day. Report time depends on the IDPH lab, but generally take five to seven days. Results are delivered via phone by the Madison County Health Department.

“We started this effort with Madison County Housing Authority sites with high perceived need and low access to testing,” Hoffman said. “We have now branched out into other areas and have tested more than 1500 individuals around the county in the communities of Granite City, Venice, Madison, Fairmont, Collinsville, Glen Carbon and Alhambra.”

“This is a wonderful interdisciplinary and multi-institutional collaboration that meets the needs of our communities by providing education and service,” said Griffin. “Additionally, this experience allows our students clinical time in underserved and rural health regions, as well as training in COVID-19 education.”

Daily updates on COVID-19 cases and contract tracing data, along with a location posting for Madison County Mobile Testing is available at www.co.madison.il.us/departments/health.

PHOTO: SIUE’s Melisa Bogle, DNP, performs an anterior nasal swap on a community member during a Madison County Mobile Testing site visit.