As the one-year mark since COVID-19 arrived in Alberta quickly approaches, Sandstone Pharmacies has announced polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing for the virus will be available in select rural pharmacies across the province, including the company's location along Main Street in Airdrie.
More than 20 sites across Alberta are involved in the pharmacy’s initiative, among which are sites in Airdrie, Calgary, Bragg Creek and Langdon.
“We had a store in Airdrie that was a pilot store for asymptomatic testing in 2020,” said Marco Casagrande, the chief executive officer for Sandstone Pharmacies. “We saw a very high demand, particularly out of the Airdrie market for people going to that market.”
After the Alberta government ended the pilot program in the fall of 2020, Casagrande said demand for the PCR tests continued.
He said the pharmacy looked around for a partner to continue the program, eventually finding CardiAI, in Calgary.
“They have a lab in Calgary, which was the big differentiator for us,” he said. “We needed someone who could test the results locally to speed up the process. That gives us the ability to use our pharmacies in rural Alberta to try and make sure people can easily get tests done.”
Casagrande said PCR has been the gold standard on the asymptomatic side of COVID-19 testing, particularly for airlines and international border organizations.
“Those organizations have really leaned on the PCR test as being the reason why they will allow entry into those areas,” he said. “For people who are in a position where they have to get a work-related COVID-19 test because they need to confirm something, or if they need to travel urgently, this is an option.”
According to Casagrande, PCR testing has advanced to where nasal or throat swabbing are not necessary for the tests Sandstone will offer.
“We found those to be very invasive, both to the pharmacist who had to administer them and to the patient who had to receive them,” he said. “One of the benefits of working with CardiAI, is it developed tests designed for saliva capture.”
In essence, Casagrande said, people heading in for tests will deposit saliva into a container, which will be sent to the Calgary lab.
“It accomplishes the same goal as what the swabs were designed to do, in a less invasive fashion,” he said. “I think that opens it up to people who may have been hesitant to receiving swab testing. As PCR testing evolves, the test process is evolving with it.”
Many centres in rural Alberta, Casagrande said, have not had COVID-19 testing for symptomatic or asymptomatic patients. He said when the opportunity arose to spread Sandstone Pharmacies’ operation to larger centres like Airdrie, it gave the company the ability to save people time.
He said the lab in Calgary can process the tests in a timeframe from anywhere between four and 24 hours.
“Pharmacies tend to be health centers in rural communities,” he said. “We have made it a very strong focus of our company to make sure we are offering other forms of point-of-care testing like PCR testing, so people don’t have to travel. For too long, rural markets have been under capitalized in terms of the ability for them to get access to these resources.”
For people who are interested in booking a test at the Sandstone Pharmacies location in Airdrie, Casagrande is encouraging residents to contact the store or visit sandstonepharmacies.com for more information.
