Look no further than Health Gauge (formerly Stroke Detection Plus) We have spent nearly 20 years doing community, preventative ultrasound screenings, as well as corporate wellness, that has expanded greatly in the last 10 years. We have worked with companies large and small, unions, insurance companies, and just about any other type of business you could imagine (and some you don’t ). We have positively impacted lives and alerted people to silent conditions they otherwise would have never known about.
What about the Covid 19 rapid results testing you ask? This is where the story takes a turn…..
With the pandemic hitting hard in March, we had to completely shut down our business. We were doing zero of our “normal screenings” until we teamed up in early May with the state of Iowa to help staff and work the Test Iowa Strikeforce team! Within a couple of weeks of starting that, one of our vendors that we had been in contact with asked us if we had any interest in providing our own rapid result Covid tests. We had a choice, keep doing what we were doing, which wasn’t paying the bills or giving our staff enough hours, or roll the dice and invest in this new testing. The choice for us was simple!
We signed our agreement at the end of May and got all of our equipment (kind of) and test kits on Wednesday June 9 the day before our first big on-site testing….where we were slated to test 600 employees at a construction job site, where they had previously been closed down for 4 days! Like we always do around here, we find solutions! The gal who on boarded us from Quidel, the maker of our tests and analyzers, was a rock star and made sure we were all trained up and ready to get testing the next day. While it was a bit stressful, we came through for our client and that was our start in providing Covid 19 testing in Iowa! Since then they have had us back to test in July and August, and are planning on making this a monthly event to mitigate and slow the spread of Covid 19….and I will add they have not had to shut down there job site since before June!
We are now offering drive through testing at our home office on the south side of Des Moines, Living History Farms in West Des Moines, and soon to be in Overland Park, Kansas starting the week of August 31.
The story does not end here. As you all know the news and information related to this pandemic changes daily, if not hourly….and so does our story as it relates to Covid 19 testing. Stay tuned….