March 18, 2020 – Memorial Health System will open a respiratory screening clinic at its DMH Express Care location at 8 a.m. Thursday to screen people for the COVID-19 virus.
The clinic at 4455 U.S. Route 36 East will operate seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. People coming to the respiratory clinic should call a hotline before they arrive. That number is 217-876-1200. The clinic is open to anyone with a respiratory problem that could be COVID-19.
“We have designed a process at this clinic for enhanced safety of our community and our colleagues,” said Drew Early, president and CEO of Decatur Memorial Hospital, one of five hospitals in Memorial Health System. “In order to ensure the safety of our community, we want people who have symptoms for COVID-19 to call our hotline and avoid walking into the emergency room or their physician’s clinic.”
Healthcare providers will be stationed outside the clinic to screen patients and determine the appropriate level of care. The clinic will provide COVID-19 testing for those patients who meet the guidelines set by the Illinois Department of Public Health.
If a patient arrives who has not set up an appointment through the hotline, they will be directed to a designated parking space, where signage will instruct them to call to register by phone. For anyone who needs to be brought into the clinic for further medical evaluation, such as a chest x-ray for pneumonia, there’s a separate entrance where they will be brought in for an examination and returned to their cars.
