Crunched for time, limited by mobility issues, or are you just trying to protect yourself from catching one of the “bugs” going around? The newly reopened ARH Drive Thru Lab at Highlands ARH Regional Medical Center offers a quick, comfortable and convenient answer to getting routine lab work or other tests without leaving your vehicle.
The ARH Drive Thru Lab, initially created to help patients avoid possible exposure to COVID-19, reopened this week for general lab orders for patients at Highlands ARH Regional Medical Center in Prestonsburg. The lab is open Monday-Friday from 7:00 AM to 3:30 PM. It is located across from the entrance to the oncology clinic.
Typically, patients go inside the hospital, register, then proceed to the lab waiting area until someone is available to collect specimens from the patient. With the outdoor lab, patients do not have to leave their vehicles, greatly reducing the risk of exposure to any virus or the flu and minimizing mobility challenges.
Jason Caldwell, Phlebotomy Supervisor for Highlands ARH Regional Medical Center, comments, “We originally started this lab due to COVID, but we had such a positive response from our patients that we wanted to reopen the lab and keep it available. That took having a full staff. Now that we are fully staffed again, we are open and ready to help our patients.” Caldwell continues, “While we do see people trying to avoid exposure to COVID, we’ve also seen a lot of transplant patients who have to have regular lab work and are taking extra precautions to avoid exposure to anything that could cause illness or infection. We’ve seen parents bring their babies and young children, patients who have mobility challenges and find it easier to get their lab work this way, and we have people who are just very busy and need to get their lab work done as quickly and as conveniently as possible.”
Caldwell says, “The reopening of the outdoor lab comes down to meeting our patients’ needs and that we want to be the number one place our patients think of and come to when they need medical attention. We want our patients to know that we’re here to help and to try to make things as easy as possible for them.”