BERKELEY – On a recent Monday, a line of drivers were guided by the front of the Holiday City South clubhouse on Santiago Drive, waiting for their turn to get tested for COVID-19.
While the county has started up a testing site at Ocean County College in Toms River, that location is only for people with a prescription by a doctor. At Holiday City South, anyone was welcome as long as they were from that community. They were being given a specific day to come out based on what street they lived on.
Mike Signorile, president of Holiday City South, said the idea came from a resident whose sister got tested at Lions Head Woods in Lakewood. After reaching out to the leadership there, he followed what they did and was able to get lab technicians to come here.
Residents had to have their identification, health insurance and Medicare cards, and a list of medications they were currently taking. They were being tested while staying in their vehicles. They would speak to a doctor via a phone conference before the test. It just took a few minutes and the results were expected in a few days. The company doing the work, Ridgewood Diagnostic, was only charging insurance or Medicare, not residents.
The local police did a background check on the company before this started, Signorile said.
“It gives people peace of mind,” he said.
This is a collaboration with the County Board of Health, Councilwoman Judy Noonan said. The test itself is quick and painless. The swab they use in your nasal passages is thinner than a Q-Tip.
A lot of seniors are concerned, she said. They listen to the governor speak about how important testing is but have no way of getting it.
There is a Rite Aid on Mule Road that was offering testing, and that’s only a few miles away. However there were half as many cars at Rite Aid as there were at the senior center on that same day.
The Rite Aid tests are self-tests, so there’s no consistency in the process, Signorile said.
Additionally, some members of the older community don’t want to leave their community for fear of being exposed to the virus at other sites, said one of the technicians administering the tests at Holiday City South.
