Four hundred people per day will be able to start getting tested on Friday for COVID-19 at a new drive-up testing center thanks to a unique coalition of Southeastern Michigan governments and health care systems: The 8 member Coronavirus Community Care Network is made up of the following:
- Detroit Medical Center
- Henry Ford Health System
- Trinity Health Systems
- City of Detroit
- Macomb County
- Oakland County
- Wayne County
Testing will be done Monday-Saturday, 7 AM – 6 PM at the State Fairgrounds in Detroit, starting this Friday. The samples will be taken by staff of the three health care systems from residents who will remain their cars at the drive-thru site. The tests of the samples will be run by Bioreference Labs of New Jersey under a contract with the City of Detroit to process up to 500 samples a day for the next 6 weeks.
Doctors Order and Appointment Needed for Tests – Quicken Loans Running Call Center
In order to be tested, patients need to first get a doctor’s order and then either the doctor or the patient can call 313-230-0505 to schedule the Drive Through appointment. Dan Gilbert has donated the call center operations of Quicken Loans and Rock Connections to handle the appointments, which can be made from 9 AM until 7 PM, seven days a week. Fifty cars an hour will be scheduled so there will be no backup and long lines. Quicken Loans also supported with the development of the scheduling technology and other logistical support for the testing site, as well as providing tents and other assets from the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
“As Detroit’s largest employer, we recognize our critical role in serving the members of our community,” said Jay Farner, CEO of Quicken Loans. “We cannot think of a better way to expend our resources and energy than participating in the testing process. This is a time for the public and private sectors to come together for a common goal.”
Jamie Dimon and JPMorgan Chase Recruited Bioreference Labs
The State of Michigan is desperately short of Covid-19 testing capacity, which prevented the Drive Through testing from starting earlier. With the assistance of JP Morgan Chase, the City of Detroit was able to contract with Bioreference Labs on New Jersey to perform 500 tests a day, greatly expanding Michigan’s capacity. Test results will be received within 5 days.
Community Partners
The testing process was made possible by:
- $300,000 from the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan
- 6,000 test kits from Dr. Roberto Romero and NIH Perinatal Research Branch
Health Care Partnership
The health care partnership came together when Wright Lassiter of Henry Ford Health System, Ben Carter of Trinity Health and Dr. Audrey Gregory of DMC decided to join forces to move thousands of patient visits for tests away from hospital ERs and other patients and move them to a safe, efficient testing sites.
“It is imperative for us to come together to fight this pandemic and we are pleased to offer our expertise and volunteers for the joint effort,” said Wright Lassiter III, President and CEO, Henry Ford Health System. “Having built a safe, sustainable drive-through testing site on the Henry Ford Hospital campus and each of our other hospital locations, we know how critical it is to provide alternative resources to minimize exposure and keep our healthcare employees safe.”
“The Detroit Medical Center is committed to providing the necessary support and resources to this critical community effort in the fight against COVID-19,” said Audrey Gregory, RN, Ph.D., CEO of the Detroit Medical Center. “During this time of uncertainty, it’s important that the community knows that all health care providers in our region are working together to protect them and provide the care they expert and deserve.”
“St. Joe’s, a member of Trinity Health, is grateful to Mayor Duggan for instituting this testing site,” said Rob Casalou, President and CEO, Trinity Health Michigan. “We want to thank our colleagues from the DMC and Henry Ford, and our medical group Integrated Health Associates (IHA), who are partnering with us to deploy staff to this site. It truly shows the impact we can have when we all come together when the community needs us.”
County Partnerships
The State Fairgrounds site is expected to be the first of a set of regional sites for convenient testing. Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb County Executives and Health Officers are partnering on this first site. As more testing capacity becomes available in the coming weeks, the plan is to set up additional sites in suburban Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties.
“Uniting as a region to combat the spread of this virus is critical. Creative partnerships such as this are what unite us in the fight,” said Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel.
“There is no question there’s a critical need for additional COVID-19 testing. I appreciate Mayor Duggan’s leadership in helping to bring the health systems together to increase testing capacity,” said Oakland County Executive David Coulter.
“This new testing site at the State Fairgrounds provides a desperately needed increase in the region’s testing capacity, and it will help slow the spread of the virus,” said Wayne County Executive Warren Evans. “This is a regional cooperation at its finest and I commend Mayor Duggan, my fellow county executives and our health care leaders for coming together so quickly. We must act now and we are.”
Later this week, the three-county executives will conduct individual Facebook Live events to explain the testing process and how it works to their constituents.
Mayor Mike Duggan thanked each of the partners who worked tirelessly to stand up this testing site in a remarkably short period of time.
“This is a time when our community needed leaders to step up and each of these partners and supporters have worked around the clock for the past week and a half to bring this testing site to our community,” said Mayor Mike Duggan. “Adding this testing capacity will allow us to more quickly identify who may be carrying COVID-19 so we can slow its spread and bring about a faster end to this crisis.”
How the CCCN Drive-thru testing site will work
- Between March 27 and May 8, the site will perform 14,400 tests, which will be conducted by appointment only, based on referrals from doctors.
- During this six-week period, the site will operate from 7 AM until 6 PM Monday thru Saturday starting Friday, March 27. It will operate until May 8.
- The entrance will be off of W. State Fair.
Who can go to the CCCN drive thru testing site?
- Only individuals who have received a testing order from their physician and scheduled an appointment with the CCCN call center can get tested.
- COVID-19 testing will be available to any resident of the tri-county region (Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb County)
- Individuals who do not have an appointment and a physician order will not be tested.
There are two ways a person can be scheduled for an appointment:
- A physician schedules an appointment for a patient and calls in a prescription to the call center, or,
- An individual must receive a written prescription from a physician, schedule an appointment with the call center, and bring their prescription to the testing location.
How do I schedule an appointment with the CCCN call center?
- Call the CCCN call center at 313-230-0505 to schedule your drive-thru testing appointment. Appointments are scheduled up to one week in advance.
- The call center is open Monday through Sunday 9am – 7pm.
- The appointment scheduling process for physicians includes:
- Patients arrive at their doctor’s office presenting COVID-19 symptoms.
- Doctor evaluates patient for COVID-19 and determines whether the patient should receive testing.
- If the doctor determines that COVID-19 testing is needed, the doctor writes a prescription for the test.
- While the patient is still present, the doctor’s office calls the CCCN call center with the prescription information and schedules an appointment for the patient at the drive thru.
- The doctor’s office provides the patient with their drive-thru appointment date, time, and location and instructs them to bring their state issued or another form of valid ID.
- The appointment scheduling process for an individual includes:
- Patients arrive at their doctor’s office presenting COVID-19 symptoms.
- Doctor evaluates patient for COVID-19 and determines whether the patient should receive testing.
- If the doctor determines that COVID-19 testing is needed, the doctor writes a prescription for the test.
- The patient calls the CCCN call center with the written prescription information and schedules an appointment at the drive-thru.
- The patient arrives at the drive-thru appointment with state-issued or another form of valid ID and the written prescription.
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