KILGORE, Texas — The City of Kilgore and CHRISTUS Good Shepherd Health System are partnering up to offer COVID-19 screening at the CHRISTUS Good Shepherd Emergency Center in Kilgore starting Thursday, July 16.
Using funds provided under the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) program, the City of Kilgore acquired a mobile operations unit, which for now will serve as a mobile COVID-19 screening center.
The mobile center will be staffed by professionals from CHRISTUS Good Shepherd Health System and Kilgore Fire Department, with assistance from Kilgore College School of Nursing students.
The mobile screening will be Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., at CHRISTUS Good Shepherd Emergency Center in Kilgore, located at 1612 South Henderson Boulevard. You don't need to have an appointment.
The screening service is free to Kilgore city residents. For non-residents, the screening is available for $60 or it can be filed on your insurance.
“Please consider participating in the screening only if you are experiencing any two of the following symptoms: fever, shortness of breath, cough, fatigue, loss of sense of smell or taste, chills, shaking with chills, muscle or body aches, headache, sore throat, nasal congestion, nausea or diarrhea or if you have been exposed to a person with suspected or confirmed COVID symptoms,” said Faber White, M.D., Interim Chief Medical Officer, CHRISTUS Good Shepherd Health System.
Clinicians will screen for circulating antibodies against the coronavirus in your bloodstream. Antibodies are generated by the body as part of an immune response against disease.
“An individual with COVID-19 antibodies has usually been exposed to COVID-19 in the past and could have an active COVID-19 infection. Antibodies can usually be detected in a person’s blood one to three weeks after an exposure to COVID-19. When patients visit the site, a single tube of blood is drawn and sent for screening,” explained Dr. White. “We will then call you, to share your test results within the next 90 minutes.”
