HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) Hamilton Health Center has had to adapt in the world of Covid-19. It now requires temperature checks, limits accompanying guests, and offers video and phone calls with patients.

What we saw as the missing piece was mass testing, said Jeannine Peterson, CEO of Hamilton Health Center.

Their puzzle will soon be complete as they get ready to roll out free community testing.

Trying to get testing to where the need is, where the people are who may have more difficulty accessing care anyway is really the goal, Peterson said.

Over the next two Saturdays, Hamilton will be piloting the program. That means the first 50 adults, 18 and older, who come to the centers 17th Street location will be tested outside the facilitys parking lot.

The program will then expand. Hamilton looks to partner with community organizations and churches to find testing locations.

Peterson hopes to have a full list of testing sites and dates by mid-August. She said testing will continue through the rest of 2020, at least.

Our testing will be mobile. So, well have various locations that well be doing throughout the city, she said.

Many of Hamiltons patients are minorities and low income two groups who have been hit the hardest by the virus.

We also know that thats a population that has a number of co-morbidities. So, hyper-tension, diabetes, Peterson said.

Its also a population that wasnt being served. Peterson said many of the testing locations like Rite-Aid and CVS are not within walking distance of the city.

I call it the suburbs, and a lot of [those testing sites] are really focused on symptomatic patients, Peterson said.

So, Peterson is turning her focus to Harrisburg, because having access to your health information shouldnt be a privilege. If you know what your status is, that also gives you a level of comfort, no guessing games.

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Hamilton Health Center to roll out free community Covid-19 testing - ABC27