A COVID-19 testing site in town will see patients during the month of September. It is the third pop-up clinic to open in Miami Lakes since July.
There has been strong demand at the clinics to provide answers for people worried they may be infected with the virus.
The latest clinic is run by Innovative Transfusion Medicine, a local blood center.
It will be set up at the Miami Lakes Youth Center.
The company will offer free tests for coronavirus or to detect antibodies in those who may have survived the disease via saliva sample, nasal swab and blood from a finger prick.
Results are promised within 15 minutes.
In addition to getting tested for COVID-19 and having their blood screened, patients will also be contributing to research to fight the virus, said Ralph Aleman, vice
president of Innovative Transfusion Medicine.
“We’re collecting samples that will generate data to help develop test kits and validate accuracy among the three tests we’re using in Miami Lakes,” Aleman said.
The data collected by the company will also be submitted to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration and the state of Florida, Aleman said.
Innovative Transfusion Medicine is a non-profit blood center that supplies hospitals in South Florida and elsewhere in the country, according to its website.
The company is at 5753 Miami Lakes Drive.
It opened the clinic on Aug. 29 at 6075 Miami Lakes Drive and will see patients from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
It expects to test patients through at least Sept. 30, and may open on some Saturdays, Aleman said.
Patients should register for appointments online.
A second clinic opened Aug. 19 and saw 180 patients over 10 days at the Miami Lakes United Methodist Church, organizer Dr. Ausberto Hidalgo said.
Hidalgo, medical director at South Florida Urgent Care Centers, said his team will continue testing patients only on Saturdays.
To make an appointment for a test at the church at 14800 Ludlam Road, call 954-442-8888.
Miami-Dade County Commissioner Esteban Bovo was at Miami Lakes United Methodist Church when Hidalgo’s clinic opened last month.
“We need to make sure more people are getting tested, especially rapid testing,” Bovo said then.
During the last two weeks of July, the first virus testing clinic in town operated on the grounds of the Youth Center.
It drew nearly 2,000 people from Miami-Dade County, according to SOMOS Community Care, a New York City non-profit which ran that first clinic.
SOMOS and South Florida Urgent Care Centers both have ties to local elected officials.
Miami Lakes Mayor Manny Cid is friends with a SOMOS executive and Bovo is a patient of Hidalgo.
Hidalgo is a former longtime Miami Lakes resident.
He said he organized the clinic at no cost to the town and that patients’ insurance would cover the clinic’s bills.
The test that clinic uses is called a Rapid Test Cassette, which also promises results in 15 minutes, Hidalgo said.