LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Receiving a drive-thru coronavirus test is often described, by willing participants, as quick and necessary; but you likely won’t hear them say they enjoyed their time spent with a swab inside their nasal cavity.
For millions of Americans whose first language isn’t English, those few stressful seconds can extend to the entire journey.
While government agencies and private companies have erected dozens of testing sites around Kentucky, Norton Healthcare has opened a site management says is special. It caters to all who register, but especially those who speak Spanish.
Jose Donis, who sits on the board of the Kentuckiana Hispanic Business Council, helped bring the site to St. Rita Catholic Church in Louisville, said language barriers “definitely” cause apprehension among the Hispanic community when considering driving to a test site.
“When it’s everything in Spanish, it’s one less barrier,” he said, standing in front of a line of cars at the newly opened drive-thru.
According to Norton officials, 400 people signed up for the first day at the site. Spectrum News 1 asked the healthcare company’s CEO, Russell Cox, how confident he was in the supply chain of test materials that had garnered ire from hospitals and communities around the country.
“The supply chain was interrupted for so long,” Cox said in response. “Now, it’s beginning to open up again. But, from a testing perspective, we feel very comfortable with where we are on PCR testing. We want to get equally as comfortable on serology testing.”
PCR – or polymerase chain reaction – include the common “swab” tests that detect the presence of an active virus. Serology tests are otherwise known as antibody tests and detect if a person’s body had created antibodies for a virus, thus presuming that person once contracted said virus.
Cox was optimistic enough to announce that initial plans are in the works to open more test sites in Jefferson County. We spoke with patients – some who identified as Hispanic and some who did not – who were happy to find the test site in their neighborhood.
“I’m grateful that you guys would do this for free,” Jesus Peleaz said of Norton’s team. “I just want to do it because I want to be safe and because I work in a restaurant.”
“We’re older and high risk,” said Donna Cox, who was swabbed along with her husband in their car. “And [we] just wanted peace of mind.”
If a patient at a Norton site tests positive, they will receive a call from one of their medical professionals. Spanish speaking workers are available to help with those calls.