A sign at Westerner Park pointing to the Chalet building, where COVID-19 testing is now taking place. (rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

change of scenery

AHS moves testing and vaccination into smaller facilities at Westerner Park

Sep 16, 2021 | 3:28 PM

There’s been a change this week to where people in and around Red Deer will receive COVID-19 vaccines and testing.

For months, both have been done out of Westerner Park’s Exhibition Hall, with testing originally taking place in Queens Business Park.

Now that AHS’ lease with Westerner for Exhibition Hall has ended, testing is happening inside the much smaller Westerner Chalet, while vaccinations have relocated to the Frontier Room (between the Stockmens and Prairie pavilions).

“Both rooms remain in line with all applicable public health and infection prevention and control measures. AHS closely monitors appointment uptake and availability and would derive additional testing service options solutions if needed,” reads a statement provided to rdnewsNOW by Alberta Health Services.

“For example, with recent higher demand for testing, we were able to increase our testing capacity this week, and are back to having next-day testing availability. At this time, testing will be sustained at the Chalet until the end of December.”

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According to Westerner Park, the move was necessary due to upcoming events.

“The simplest reason is that we had events lined up, such as the Alberta Food and Beverage Expo, Oktoberfest, CFR and Agri-Trade, which are going to take over that space,” says Trevor Thomas, Director of Development, Westerner Park. “It’s unfortunate two of those events have since been postponed, but we didn’t know that at the time and we still wanted to accommodate AHS. We understand it’s crucial for AHS to have a space now more so than ever.”

The Alberta Food and Beverage Expo, scheduled for Sept. 18, and Oktoberfest, scheduled for Oct. 2, are the postponed events.

Meantime, testing at the Chalet involves standing in line outside, which we asked AHS about being an issue once colder temperatures inevitably arrive.

“We continue to ask that all individuals wait in their cars until five minutes before their appointment and not arrive more than 10 minutes early,” the statement says. “This, and additional information about how to prepare for your appointment can be found at albertahealthservices.ca.”