What are the significance of Medical Testing Tents during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Kelley Cardenas (Registered Nurse and Natasha Walker (Patient Care Assistant) suit up with proper personal protective equipment.

During this pandemic, there has been an overflow of patients sent to hospitals for care and treatment of COVID-19. Additionally, because of the contagious nature of the disease, it has been a challenge for hospitals to keep their employees and non-COVID patients safe from contracting the disease within their hospitals. This has meant a decreased ability for hospitals to conduct tests and check ups within their doors. Therefore, medical testing tents have been vital in the efforts to administer as many tests as possible to the general population. 

What are they?

Medical testing tents are easily deployable tents to be set up in large outdoor spaces, such as parking garages, to allow for fast testing capabilities without taking up a lot of the hospital’s resources.  Portable testing, drive-thru screening, and containment tents can help take the burden off of hospital systems while increasing safety, capacity for testing and care. These tents include a heavy duty framework to allow for stability, but are easy to set up and move. They come in a variety of sizes for versatility in use. Medical testing tents can be set up in different ways to allow for drive thru screenings, pop up medical partitions, and walk through screenings. This equipment has been vital across the country in relieving the strain on hospitals, and allowing for increased screening capacity.

Who runs these medical testing sites?

On average, it takes seven health care professionals, including physicians, nurses, patient care technicians and medical assistants, to staff the medical evaluation tent. All of these professionals are provided with safety gear to protect them from being exposed to the disease. This gear can include N-95 masks, face shields, plastic gloves, and hospital scrubs. Our health care professionals are vital in the battle against COVID-19, from tests/screening to intensive care. 

Where can you find these medical testing tents in Southern California?

When the crisis hit, Lifeline Health, in collaboration with Choura, provided testing facilities and hospital extensions, such as Medical Testing Tents, for dozens of Southern California centers including Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Facility, Lakewood Regional Medical, Long Beach Memorial Hospital, and others. These structures were fully functioning facilities equipped with flooring, lighting, HVAC, walls, generators and power, negative air entry, and technical elements. All of this equipment ensures that medical professionals can do their jobs in fighting this disease as best they can. Lifeline Health has provided over 15,000 square feet of builds to over 5 different local hospitals to help in the fight against COVID-19. With widespread testing being at the center of importance in the battle against COVID-19, Lifeline Health’s medical testing tents are a vital asset to the Southern California community.

How can you schedule a test with We Are Lifeline?

We Are Lifeline has tested over 60,000 people over the course of the pandemic, and offer same day results at our locations. If you are experiencing symptoms or believe you have been exposed to COVID-19, it is vital that you seek out testing with fast results. We Are Lifeline’s headline site is centrally located at Silverlakes Sports Complex in the Inland Empire off of the 15 freeway. Head over to We Are Lifeline to schedule your test today.

Sources:

https://www.tentcraft.com/article/medical-and-hospital-tents

https://hscnews.usc.edu/covid-19-screening-tents-a-product-of-system-wide-collaboration (Photos)

https://www.choura.co/case_study/covid-19-hospital-builds/

https://lifelinehealth.covidclinic.org/

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