N.B. ER doctor sets up volunteer drive-thru COVID-19 testing site in Dieppe

In response to delays in COVID-19 testing times in New Brunswick, a Moncton doctor and a group of emergency room nurses are volunteering their time to test people at a drive-thru site in Dieppe.

“For everyone to be safe, well, we need to find the runny noses that are COVID positive really quickly,” said Dr. Isabelle-Anne Girouard, who is an ER and ICU doctor at the Georges L. Dumont Hospital.

Girouard, along with a group of nurses from the hospital are volunteering their time to set up a drive-thru site in the parking lot behind a daycare on 355 Amirault Street in Dieppe.

“I would much rather set up an organized clinic to swab noses than to intubate patients and have to start triaging like they are doing in Alberta,” said Girouard.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I would much rather set up an organized clinic to swab noses than to intubate patients and have to start triaging like they are doing in Alberta," said Girouard.

Girouard said she got the idea after deciding to swab her own daughter who had a runny nose instead of facing long waits to get an appointment at the testing site in Moncton

“(I realized) that the delays was five to seven days to even get a call back because the coliseum in Moncton was swamped with demands,” she said.

She said that her daughter tested positive 11 days ago, and after working with the owner of Centre Educatif Le Platinum daycare to get her daycare mates swabbed quickly to limit the spread, she decided to help others access quick testing.

She said the testing supplies are being provided by the hospital, which has been very supportive of the initiative.

“We know that the spread goes really fast and we know that those are people that need us in the ER, if we don’t quickly act up and find a solution for helping them,” she said.

On Wednesday morning, she and eight volunteer nurses held their first clinic and swabbed 120 people. They will be on-site from 7 to 9 a.m. every morning until this coming Sunday.

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“If we fall behind too much, then things could get scary for the hospital settings,” she said.

After waiting days to get a call for testing for her son, Michelle Manson of Riverview said she took her daughters to the drive-thru site instead of waiting for a call from NB Public Health.

“It is a really big let down and I feel that a lot more people are being exposed because they did not get back to us in a timely manner,” said Manson.

Girouard said the province has been beefing up staff and hours at the current testing site at the Moncton Coliseum.

“They have added a lot of people to help out to make it more efficient so they are doing more than their part to try and catch up all their weight as well,” she said.

But given the sheer number of cases and exposures in Zone 1, she said she wants to do her part to help the province get through the backlog of testing.