For those feeling a bit under the weather but without immediate access to a doctor, a new “testandgo” testing and medical supply kiosk, provided by the Virginia-based company LTS in partnership with the Washington state Department of Health (DOH), is now available outside of the Tenino Community Service Center and Food Bank Plus.
Tenino and Thurston County officials, along with DOH representatives, were at the food bank — located at 224 Sussex Ave. East in downtown Tenino — for a ribbon-cutting ceremony unveiling the testandgo kiosk on Tuesday, Feb. 20. DOH provides these testandgo kiosks free of charge to interested communities.
Among the officials in attendance were Thurston County Commissioners Wayne Fournier and Carolina Mejia, Thurston County Public Health and Social Services Director David Bayne and Tenino Mayor David Watterson, along with Tenino Community Service Center Executive Director Jody Stoltz.
The testandgo kiosks are part of a DOH community testing initiative in collaboration with local health jurisdictions and tribal nations around Washington state and feature free COVID-19 and flu tests available 24/7 at no cost to communities. According to a DOH news release, the kiosks are meant to facilitate more testing to help better control the spread of respiratory viruses.
Each kiosk can hold around 700 tests depending on configuration. Since the initiative was announced earlier this month, multiple kiosks have already been installed throughout the state with more on the way, according to a DOH representative.
“Some people in our community don’t have easy access (to testing supplies), so something like this really makes a difference,” Watterson said.
Aside from the COVID and flu tests — which include COVID rapid antigen tests, self-swab PCR COVID tests and multiplex rapid antigen tests which detect both COVID and the flu — the testandgo kiosks also provide a variety of other medical supplies.
This includes pregnancy tests, condoms, sexually transmitted infection tests, Naloxone, fentanyl test strips, and other over-the-counter medication. Stoltz they are working out what other medical supplies will be stocked in the kiosk depending on community needs.
“We’ve had a vision of being able to support more services, especially in South Thurston County, so this is one of the ways we get to do that,” Bayne said.
Any additional supplies aside from COVID and flu tests stocked in the kiosks are the responsibility of the local health jurisdiction or Tribe.
Fournier, who was Tenino mayor before being elected a county commissioner last year, thanked the volunteers at the Tenino Community Service Center and Food Bank Plus.
“The last couple of years, they have just taken off and … they have excelled in the face of many difficulties, especially with COVID,” Fournier said.
The Tenino Community Service Center and Food Bank Plus provides food to families in the Tenino and Bucoda area. It is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to noon. For more information, visit https://teninocsc.org/.
Located in Herndon, Virginia, LTS — formerly known as Longview International Technology Solutions — is an enterprise consulting and IT modernization firm focusing on health care innovations, according to its website. It developed the testandgo kiosks to create a safe, reliable and contactless testing experience.
So far, testandgo kiosks have been set up in communities in North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan and Washington state. To find a kiosk aside from the one in Tenino, visit https://www.testandgo.com/kiosk-locator.
For more information about testandgo kiosks and LTS, visit https://www.testandgo.com/.
