AHN Opens New Mobile Coronavirus Testing Site In Homewood
HOMEWOOD (KDKA) - For those unable to make it to the doctor's office or to clinics, testing for COVID-19 is coming to them.
A new mobile testing site was opened on Thursday in Homewood.
It's another step in bringing vital testing closer to home. Funded by the Hillman Foundation, Heinz Endowments, and the owners of the Pittsburgh Penguins, it's a collective mission.
"To have testing like this mobile lab that will allow people to have access to it right where they live and the fact it will be moving around to other neighborhoods is so important," said Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald.
It's a collaboration that started as a conversation about concerns from the Pittsburgh Black Elected Officials Coalition.
"The underserved and underrepresented populations, minority populations, in the city and Allegheny County, in terms of how they had access to testing, access to engagement about the COVID virus," said DeWitt Watson of the Allegheny County Council.
"It does not stop here, this is simply a sign of what we will do," said Rev. Ricky Burgess. "Yes, we will rebuild homes, we will rebuild homes, we will rebuild the shopping district. The African-American communities, we will transform them from places of concentrated poverty to stable, mixed-income communities."
The COVID-19 testing program has visited a number of local neighborhoods, including the Hill District, Hazelwood, and Duquesne, and there are several other communities on the schedule.