Sanford Health can perform COVID-19 testing at all of their primary care and walk-in clinics in Kelliher, Blackduck, Bemidji, Bagley, Clearbrook, Cass Lake, Walker and Park Rapids.
There are alternative collection sites in Bemidji, Walker and Park Rapids. At these locations, a patient with a doctor’s order is able to drive up to the alternate location and get tested without leaving their vehicles.
To get a doctor’s order for a test, a patient must call their primary care provider or a primary care/walk in clinic to either speak with a provider over the phone or schedule a virtual visit. Testing criteria includes having symptoms associated with COVID-19, which includes a cough, fever, body aches and shortness of breath, AND/OR direct exposure to someone confirmed to have COVID-19.
Tests are also available for inpatients and Emergency Department patients at Bemidji and Bagley medical center. Local tests performed in the Sanford Bemidji lab allow high-priority cases within hours, which minimizes exposure and unnecessary PPE use.
Additionally, inpatients ready for discharge are tested for COVID-19 before they return to their homes at long-term care facilities.
To date at Sanford Health of Northern Minnesota, 526 have been tested and eight have returned positive. Seven of those eight have already recovered and no longer need to be isolated.
