OLDS — Mayor Mike Muzychka is hopeful the town may soon be a COVID-19 testing site after he raised that idea with Health Minister Tyler Shandro.
Muzychka met with Shandro and Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills MLA Nathan Cooper on May 7.
The meeting lasted about 45 minutes and the testing site matter took up a major portion of that time.
“I explained that the region has a high density of seniors and driving to Red Deer or Airdrie was difficult and expensive if people don’t have access to their own transportation," Muzychka wrote in an email.
“The minister did not realize that the Olds area services between 30,000-40,000 people that would use a testing site here rather than driving to the other sites. He sounded very receptive to the idea, and promised to discuss it with his department.”
Muzychka also thanked Shandro for opening up COVID-19 vaccines to fire departments, including the Olds Fire Department.
“These are very critical essential workers that need to be protected," he wrote.
Muzychka noted that several members of the Olds Fire Department went to Red Deer last week to get their first vaccines in order not to “drain the smaller allotment of vaccine here in town for our residents.”
He also praised Shandro’s department for implementing a rapid testing site for local first responders through the Olds Fire Department.
Shandro was in town that day to re-announce just over $1 million to upgrade the Olds Hospital and Care Centre’s medical device reprocessing area, including cart washers and a washer disinfector. That work is expected to be done later this year. That project was first announced in the March.
Muzychka said he thanked Shandro for that investment.
"I honestly feel the minister heard all of our concerns and will taking them seriously,” Muzychka wrote.
