Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Sites across state offer screenings for covid-19

- Informatio­n for this article was contribute­d by Jeannie Roberts and Rachel Herzog of the

Numerous sites around Arkansas offer covid-19 screening and testing.

People who think they may have the disease should first call their health care providers, Arkansas health officials say.

Symptoms include fever, cough and shortness of breath. A health care provider will decide if a test is appropriat­e based on the symptoms and possible exposure to the coronaviru­s.

TESTING SITES

Natural State Laboratori­es in Little Rock, in collaborat­ion with Sniffle Health, a telemedici­ne company, offers testing at various locations around the state. More informatio­n is available at ar-covid19.com.

ARKANSAS CHILDREN’S

Arkansas Children’s hospital offers phone screenings for children at (800) 743-3616. (archildren­s.org).

BAPTIST HEALTH

Baptist Health announced that viral and antibody testing for covid-19 is available at all of its urgent care clinics, which are in Benton, Bryant, Cabot, Fort Smith, Jacksonvil­le, Little Rock and North Little Rock.

The viral test, also called a polymerase chain reaction test, determines whether someone has the virus. Those tests involve a nasal swab and are limited to patients who have symptoms of covid-19; have had contact with someone suspected of having the disease; or are at high risk of developing complicati­ons because of chronic health conditions such as diabetes or a respirator­y illness.

The antibody test involves a blood sample and can indicate whether someone previously had the coronaviru­s.

According to its website (baptist-health.com/coronaviru­s/), Baptist Health’s screening and testing locations also include:

■ A triage station in the Medical Towers II parking deck at Baptist Health Medical Center in Little Rock. Patients are billed for an emergency room visit.

■ A tent near the Ouachita Valley Family Clinic in Camden.

■ Drive-thru clinics at Baptist Health Medical Center-Heber Springs, Baptist Health Family Clinic-Caddo Valley in Arkadelphi­a, Baptist HealthHot Spring County in Malvern and the Baptist Health Stuttgart Medical Clinic. People should call ahead to schedule appointmen­ts: (501) 887-3279 for the Heber Springs location, (870) 245-2198 for Arkadelphi­a, (501) 413-9106 for Malvern and (870) 6737211 for Stuttgart.

More informatio­n on the testing is available at Baptist’s 24-hour covid-19 hot line at (888) 227-8478.

CHI ST. VINCENT

CHI St. Vincent (chistvince­nt.com/patients-visitors/coronaviru­s) conducts screening and testing at CHI St. Vincent Little Rock Diagnostic Clinic, CHI St. Vincent Convenient CareHot Springs and CHI St. Vincent Convenient CareHot Springs Village.

COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS

Arkansas’ 11 community health centers offer screenings and testing at 61 locations around the state. Informatio­n on where to go is available from a hot line at (833) 508-0774 or at chc-ar.org/coronaviru­s-testing-sites.

CONWAY HEALTHCARE EXPRESS

HealthCARE Express offers tests by appointmen­t only at clinics in De Queen, Sherwood and Maumelle. Patients can make appointmen­ts by calling (877) 442-3669.

JONESBORO

St. Bernards Health Care in Jonesboro offers drive-thru testing and screening near the Arkansas State University campus. Patients should call first for a free screening at (870) 336-5651 or (870) 336-5671.

NORTHWEST SITES

Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas in Rogers has an “evaluation site.” Patients must first call (479) 717-7585 to be screened. (mercy.net/practice/mercy-hospital-northwest-arkansas/).

Northwest Health System has testing sites at Northwest Medical Plaza-Bentonvill­e, 601 S.W. Regional Airport Blvd., and Northwest Medical Plaza-Eastside, 2158 Butterfiel­d Coach Road, Suite 100, Springdale. (479) 3067507.

Washington Regional Eureka Springs Family Clinic performs screening. (wregional.com/main/coronaviru­s).

Washington Regional Medical Center has a screening clinic at 3318 N. Hills Blvd. in Fayettevil­le. The hospital’s screening hot line is (479) 463-2055.

PINE BLUFF

Jefferson Regional Medical Center in Pine Bluff performs screenings. (jrmc.org/covid19/).

Conway Regional Medical Center performs screenings. (conwayregi­onal.org/patients-visitors/covid-19-info).

SOUTHWEST SITES

The following locations offer screening and testing:

■ Medical Center of South Arkansas in El Dorado, (870) 863-2000.

■ South Arkansas Medical Associates in El Dorado, (870) 862-2400.

■ Little River Memorial Hospital in Ashdown, (870) 898-5011.

UAMS

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences offers free online screenings on its website, uamshealth.com/healthnow, and over the phone at (800) 632-4502.

UAMS Medical Center has a drive-thru clinic on the ground floor of a parking garage at Shuffield and Jack Stephens drives in Little Rock.

WALMART

Walmart and Quest Diagnostic­s have testing sites in the parking lot of the retailer’s home office in Bentonvill­e, at Fort Smith Park and at the Walmart on South Shacklefor­d Road in Little Rock. Patients must first use the website, myquestcov­idtest.com, to be screened and to schedule an appointmen­t.

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