Covid 19 coronavirus: Pop up testing clinic at Stratford Marae proves popular

Nurse Judy Scorringe (right) places a completed swab kit into a sterile bag held by nurse Te Maramatanga Hohaia.

The first pop-up Covid-19 clinic in Stratford was so popular it ran out of tests last week.
No-one will miss out however, with arrangements made for more testing to be done, says Sarah-Lee Rangi, practice manager of Ngāti Ruanui Healthcare which organised and ran the clinic.
Ngāti Ruanui Health is owned by Te Runanga o Ngāti Ruanui servicing 10,500 clients and is the largest Māori owned Health Provider in Taranaki.

The pop-up clinic was at the Whakaahurangi Marae on Celia Street for five hours on Friday, going through a total of 53 tests in that time.

Sarah-Lee says they were given a set number of tests by the Taranaki District Health Board for the day but have taken the contact details of anyone who came seeking a test and wasn't able to get one.

"Arrangements will be made for those people to be tested as well, so no-one will miss out."

Ngāti Ruanui Healthcare organised the pop-up clinic in Stratford as one of several pop-up clinics throughout the iwi's tribal boundary, she says.

"It was important to make sure we brought tests to the community. It is one of the ways we can serve our people."

Testing was open to anyone who came along on the day, regardless of ethnicity or if they had symptoms or not, she says.

"It's about getting people tested so the Health Board have the information they need about the rate if infection in our communities."

People started arriving about 20 minutes before the clinic was due to open and a steady stream of people continued turning up, she says.

"In the first 25 minutes we had completed 10 tests."

The clinic was manned by Sarah-Lee and two Ngāti Ruanui Healthcare nurses who carefully conducted the tests, gathered the relevant information and ensured no contamination occurred.

"We have two nurses working together. One nurse does the actual test while the other nurse takes people's details, hands out the forms and collects them, and then takes the completed swab and puts it in a snaplock bag ready to be sent away. I am then here to support the two of them getting the information into the computer and do anything else needed."

The nurse who is not taking the swab disinfects the pens and clipboards between each use, while the nurse taking the swabs changes her gloves and disinfects her hands between every test she administers. Nothing, says Sarah-Lee, is left to chance.

"The nurses know exactly what they are doing and have a clear system to make sure every test is correctly recorded, administered and collected."

The pop-up clinics have been a great way to get out into the community and support the fight against Covid-19, she says.

"We are here to support our communities and to help ensure Covid-19 remains under control."

Stratford District Councillor John Sandford was one of the people to come to be tested on the day.

Stratford District Councillor John Sandford was one of the 53 people to get tested on Friday.

John says he had no symptoms of Covid-19 but decided to be tested as he thinks it is important.

"I did my bit to ensure we have accurate records."

The test wasn't painful he said.

"Although it did make me want to sneeze."

• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website