It’s been two years since Northern Hospital’s Northern Centre for Health Education and Research (NCHER) opened its testing site in Epping, swabbing locals for COVID-19.
Frontline staff donned their PPE gear, day in, day out, facilitating the testing of almost 300,000 community members.
Chief nursing and midwifery officer Lisa Cox expressed her appreciation for staff during this time.
“I would like to thank all staff – nursing, administration, security and traffic management for providing such an invaluable community service to Northern Health staff, patients and the general community,” Ms Cox said.
Formerly known as the ‘Fever Clinic,’ the testing site at Northern Hospital was first established in March 2020, operating next to DPV Health. Not long after, the service was developed into a drive-through site at NCHER.
“This was Northern Health’s longest serving COVID-19 testing site, commencing in July 2020 and testing many Victorians and interstate travellers throughout its operations.”
Ms Cox commended the team on their rapid response during peak times.
“The ability to surge during local outbreaks and various COVID-19 waves was highly impressive. The NCHER COVID-19 testing site was one of the superior services in terms of queue management and timely results for our staff and community.”
During their busiest times, the combined sites tested over 1,100 community members in one day alone.
“After having the Northern Health testing sites in operation for two years, it seems strange to decommission the service,” she said.
Director of operations, infection prevention, Madelaine Flynn said the testing site had been invaluable to the community.
“The staff have worked incredibly hard in all seasons and with large influxes of patient numbers!”
