Continuing To Serve
Veterans Hall to still be a testing site
It’s planned for Veterans events to still be held
The Porterville Veterans Memorial Building will be open for one more month for COVID-19 testing.
Originally the hall was supposed to be turned back over for veterans activities at the end of this month on July 31.
But American Legion Post 20 Commander Don Dowling said the state asked id the building could be used for one more month for testing and he added the local veterans organization was happy to oblige.
So now the Veterans Building will continue to be used for testing through August 31. Then the plan calls for local veterans to take back control of the facility again on September 1.
At that time, Dowling said plans will begin for this year’s Veterans Day activities, including the Miss Porterville Pageant that’s traditionally held toward the end of October and the Veterans Day Parade.
So as of now it’s planned for the traditional Veterans Day activities to be held. “Unless the Governor directs us differently we plan on doing it,” said Dowling, commenting on any possible future directives from Governor Gavin Newsom.
“We’re doing it to help the community and the state,” said Dowling about the testing continuing at the Veterans Building. “Our community comes first. We want to help the community. To serve the community, that’s our purpose.”
Once the Veterans Building is turned back over to local veterans, one site that’s been suggested as a replacement for testing has been the Porterville National Guard Armory.
Optum-serve operates the testing site by appointment only at the Veterans Building at
1900 W. Olive. Appointments can be made by calling 1-888-634-1123 or online at https://lhi.care/ covidtesting. Online registration is preferred.
The site is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. New testing guidelines were put into place two weeks ago that uses a tier system to determine those who are in need of testing the most.
The guidelines can be found here: https:// www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/cid/dcdc/pages/covid-19/updatedcovid-19-testing-guidance.aspx