Dignity Health partners with L.A. County for coronavirus testing
Dignity Health Glendale Memorial Hospital is ramping up its testing capabilities for the novel coronavirus, thanks to some help from Los Angeles County.
The hospital is one of several medical facilities in the Southland working in conjunction with the L.A. County Department of Public Health to increase its ability to collect test samples from people suspected of having the virus that causes COVID-19.
The other facilities involved with the partnership include the High Desert Medical Group office in Lancaster and Northridge Hospital Medical Center.
According to a statement from Clayton Kazan, medical director for the L.A. County Fire Department and the region’s coronavirus testing coordinator, the only way to get tested at the Glendale hospital is if a person has an order from a physician with Dignity Health’s network.
Under the partnership, the hospital now accepts orders that members of the public have received elsewhere.
The hospital said in a statement that an appointment is still needed in order to be tested, and priority for results is given to healthcare workers as well as first responders.
More information about testing at the hospital can be found at DignityHealth.org/GMHCOVIDTest.
A local nonprofit medical clinic has also stepped in to provide coronavirus testing for Glendale residents. All For Health, Health For All has set up a drive-through testing center on the corner of Isabel Street and Broadway near the Glendale Police Department’s headquarters.
As with Dignity Health, appointments are required for testing and can be made by calling (818) 738-7774.
A representative for the clinic did not respond to requests for comment.
Despite the increase in testing capacity across the county, processing the samples and getting results is still an uphill battle — especially in California, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The state has fallen behind virus hot spots like New York state in coronavirus testing and tracking, the report stated.
A lack of coordination between municipalities and the state on how and where to conduct testing as well as private institutions implementing their own procedures have contributed to the backlog, according to public health experts.
Commercial laboratories have also been plagued by a deluge of testing samples, leading to a bottleneck in processing and long delays in receiving results, The Times reported.
Glendale has become one of the highest infected cities in the county, with 86 confirmed cases as of Wednesday afternoon.
The city is only behind Long Beach, which has 133 confirmed cases, and Los Angeles, which has 1,580 cases.
Countywide, there have been more than 4,000 confirmed cases of the virus as of Thursday, according to health officials.
