Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Translation Español | Creole

A new telephone pre-registration process has been established to reduce wait time at the C.B. Smith Park COVID-19 Drive-Thru Test Collection site.

People will be able to complete the crucial criteria screening and provide demographical information ahead of time, which is required in order to get tested at the park.

COVID-19 Test Collection Site Reservation Line

Hours of Reservation Line

Call 954-276-4680 starting Monday, March 23, 2020, from 1 pm to 5:30 pm.

Daily starting Tuesday March 24, 2020 (7 days a week) from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm.

• Everyone who calls to register – and meets the criteria for testing – will be provided a confirmation number, and a pre-packet will be waiting at the park for them.
• If multiple individuals are coming in one car, each individual must be pre-registered.
• Must bring identification. 
• Every person who wants to be tested at this site must be pre-registered. The pre-registration process will optimize capacity and make the entire process as efficient as possible.

Who Should Call to Register?

Anyone meeting the following criteria:

• First responders: (essential personnel) police, fire-rescue and hospital workers who are symptomatic. 
• 65 years or older with chronic conditions and symptomatic.
• Individuals who meet the testing criteria: symptomatic, have travelled internationally by cruise or air or from an affected geographical area.
• Immune compromised and symptomatic.

What to Expect at the Site

• People must have their ID ready to show upon arrival. The registrant’s name will be verified with the pre-packet.
• Once registrant is verified, the Florida National Guard will provide additional direction. 

There is no medical treatment available at the site. It’s strictly for test collection.

Please note that if you are asymptomatic, or just feeling mild flu-like symptoms and are not in a high-risk category, do not come to the testing site. Stay home, self-isolate, and rest. You may also consult with your physician or use telehealth to consult a doctor about your symptoms or go to your nearest emergency room if you are in severe distress.

Obtaining Test Results

• Memorial Healthcare System clinical teams will notify all registrants of positive and negative results by phone.
• Registrants who provided an e-mail address during registration will receive links to register to Memorial My Chart or to Quest Laboratory to receive results electronically.

The establishment of the drive-thru operation is part of Governor Ron DeSantis's initiative to extend COVID-19 testing in Florida. The CB Smith Park testing operation is a multiagency effort and includes support from: Broward County Parks and Recreation, Broward Emergency Management, Broward Sheriff’s Office, Florida Department of Transportation, Florida Division of Emergency Management, Florida Department of Health, Florida Highway Patrol, Florida National Guard, Memorial Healthcare System, Pembroke Pines Police Department, Pembroke Pines Fire Rescue and Quest Diagnostics. 

Media Contacts

Kerting Baldwin, Memorial Healthcare System
954-265-1136
Newsmedia@mhs.net

Captain Al Xiques, Pembroke Pines Police Department

Florida Department of Military Affairs - Public Affairs Office
904-823-0166 or 0170
fl.ng.pao@mail.mil

This page is dedicated to media updates regarding how Memorial Healthcare System is working to protect our patients, families and staff during the rapidly changing events surrounding COVID-19 (coronavirus).

Corporate Communications News Media Line:
954-265-1136
Contact Request

March 21 Update

UPDATES on First Day of COVID-19 Drive-Thru Community Based Testing Site at CB Smith Park

On Friday, March 20th, the COVID-19 drive-thru community based testing site opened at CB Smith Park. At 4:00pm, Governor Ron DeSantis reported 407 tests had been completed. By the end of day, healthcare personnel completed 745 tests in 542 vehicles with passengers in 87 cars who did not meet the criteria that is being used at the site. To clarify, testing will continue daily (7 days a week, which will include the weekend) beginning at 9 am until we reach maximum vehicle capacity inside CB Smith Park, which will likely take us past 5 pm.

“If you are asymptomatic – or just feeling mild flu-like symptoms, and are not in a high-risk category, please do not to come to the testing site. Please stay home, self-isolate, and rest. You can also consult with your physician or use telehealth to consult a doctor about your symptoms or go to your nearest emergency room if you are in severe distress. If you are unsure whether you meet the criteria, visit this website. This testing facility is not providing medical services other than test collection. ” – Dr. Jennifer Goldman, Medical Director Memorial Primary Care, Memorial Healthcare System.

Here once again is the testing criteria:

Who Can Get Tested (Screening): The test will be provided only to those who are exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 and meet the following criteria:

• First responders (policemen, firemen and hospital workers) who are symptomatic (Must bring ID)
• People aged 65 or older, with COVID-19 symptoms and chronic conditions (Must bring ID)
• Individuals who meet the testing criteria: symptomatic, have travelled international cruise or air or from an affected geographic area immune compromised with symptoms (Must bring ID)
• If the person does not meet the criteria, they will be directed to the exit

Additional information can be found here.

If a patient is coming to get tested, here is the latest information from Pembroke Pines Police on how to access the site.

• General public please enter through the main entrance of the park on Flamingo Rd. and Johnson.
• Patients that wish to be tested need to be seated by a window.
• Bring food and drinks, you might have a wait of two hours or more.
• There are restrooms within the park.
• The capacity of vehicles at one time within CB Smith Park is 250 vehicles.

March 19 Update

The National Guard has converted a portion of C.B. Smith Park into a drive-through testing facility site for COVID-19 sample collection.

March 17 Update

Beginning Wednesday, March 18, 2020:

• No visitors are allowed, unless there is a special circumstance, starting March 18 at all Memorial hospital locations. Exceptions include the spouse or significant other of a delivering mother, or one guardian with a pediatric patient.
• Valet services will be suspended at all Memorial hospitals except at the Medical Office buildings for each location.
• Elective surgeries will be restricted at all Memorial hospitals. Patients should call their physician’s office to find out if their surgery has been delayed.

Memorial Hospital West and the other hospitals in the Memorial Healthcare System are not sites for testing the general public who don’t meet the CDC criteria for COVID-19 testing.  Furthermore, Memorial Hospital West is not and will not be the site for Drive Thru Testing. In order to be tested for COVID-19, a person must meet the criteria set forth by the CDC and the Department of Health.
 
There will be strict CDC criteria for testing at the forthcoming community drive-thru site, which will be located away from any Memorial hospital. Asymptomatic patients will not be tested as patients need to meet the CDC criteria. Please use MemorialDocNow or primary care physicians instead to assess symptoms and read the CDC and Florida Department of Health sites.

March 16 Update

Tents for Patient Triage

Memorial Healthcare System is diligently monitoring the development of COVID-19 (2019 novel Coronavirus) and taking all appropriate and necessary precautions for the safety and well-being of our community. One of the many initiatives we have instituted is tents outside the emergency departments of our hospitals as a way to better triage patients.

These are not testing sites for COVID-19. These tents are set up very specifically to assure we keep separated those patients who have flu like illnesses from those patients who have other ailments for which they show up in the hospital. We remain vigilant and continue to follow the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Florida Department of Health guidelines.

Coordinating Drive-through Testing Site

Memorial is working in collaboration with the Governor’s Office to help expanding COVID-19 testing by setting up a community site for collection. We hope to have this up and running by end of this week, working alongside Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and the National Guard.

• The drive-through site will not be open to all for collection for testing.
• Collection for the testing is not being performed on asymptomatic patients.
• We are trying to provide this service for our highest risk patient population.
• There will be strict criteria, which is currently under development.
• It’s important that we set this site away from the hospitals, and Memorial is looking at a location in the general vicinity of Flamingo Road and Pines Boulevard.
• Patients who are not ill should not come to the hospital.

Translate in Spanish | Creole

Under the direction of Governor Ron DeSantis, Florida National Guard (FLNG) soldiers and airmen, with the collaboration of Memorial Healthcare System, state, county and local agencies, will open a COVID-19 drive-thru Community Based Testing Site. The site will open at 9 a.m. Friday at C.B. Smith Park, 900 N Flamingo Rd, Pembroke Pines, FL 33028 with only the main gate available for entrance into the park. The site will continue testing at 9 am and will last daily until the park reaches maximum capacity of vehicles.

The test site is drive-thru only, and it’s not equipped to take pedestrians, bikers or other types of traffic because the test will be provided only through the window of a car. Patients who are not ill should not come to the testing site. If the person does not meet the criteria, they will be directed to the exit. 

Combat medics with the FLNG will be administrating the specimen collection. Memorial physicians and medical technicians will be on site to support combat medics. 

Who Can Get Tested (Screening): The test will be provided only to those who are exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 and meet the following criteria: 

• First Responders who are symptomatic: policemen, firemen, and hospital workers (Must bring ID)
• People aged 65 or older, with COVID-19 symptoms and chronic conditions (Must bring ID)
• Individuals who meet the testing criteria: symptomatic, have travelled international cruise or air or from an affected geographic area,or immune compromised with symptoms (Must bring ID)
• Patients who are not ill should not come to the testing site
• If the person does not meet the criteria, they will be directed to the exit

Park Logistics:

• People who meet the criteria and need to be tested should enter the park via the intersection of Flamingo Road and Johnson Street, and they will be routed through the park to the screening station.
• The test site is drive-thru only not equipped to assist pedestrians, bikers and will not be allowed to enter. You must be in a vehicle. It’s recommended that you have enough fuel for expected delay of 2 hours or more.
• Nurses, wearing personal protective equipment, will screen through prospective patients.
• If the person meets the above criteria, the nurse will provide a placard in the windshield for the patient to continue to the testing tents.

At the Testing Station:

Once the patient arrives to the testing area, a medic wearing a Tyvek suit will collect a sample with the swab of the nostril. Another service member will be responsible for scribing the information from the patient’s placard to the bio-hazard bag, and another will be responsible for collecting the sample and placing it in the bag.

Results:

After the sample is in the bio-hazard bag, it will be refrigerated until it is shipped to a vendor for examination. Within three to four days, Memorial Healthcare System will notify patients of the results. The Florida Department of Health will follow up with instructions to patients with positive results.

Media Staging:

Old Petco location: 12251 Pines Blvd NE corner of Flamingo Road and Pines Blvd.

The establishment of the drive-thru operation comes just days after the request from Governor Ron DeSantis. The testing operation is a multiagency effort and includes support from: Broward County Parks and Recreation, Broward Emergency Management, Broward Sheriff’s Office, Florida Department of Transportation, Florida Division of Emergency Management, Florida Department of Health, Florida Highway Patrol, Florida National Guard, Memorial Healthcare System, Pembroke Pines Police Department, Pembroke Pines Fire Rescue and Quest Diagnostics.