Ashburton Guardian, Wednesday, March 25, 2020

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Wednesday, Mar 25, 2020

Since Sept 27, 1879

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Ashburton’s Community Based Assessment Clinc (CBAC) opened officially yesterday.

PHOTO MATT MARKHAM

Fight to combat Covid-19 begins By Matt Markham

matt.m@theguardian.co.nz

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THE INDEPENDENT VOICE OF MID CANTERBURY

The Ashburton District’s fight to combat Covid-19 took a step up yesterday when the official Community Based Assessment Clinic (CBAC) for the pandemic opened its doors for the first time. Located on the Ashburton Hospital grounds, but operated by the Canterbury District Health Board, the clinic began operations late yesterday morning after the combined effort of a number of key people, including members of the Ashburton Covid-19 Communications team which was established in the wake of the outbreak. The opening of the clinic comes with a warning to general members of the public though, and it’s that if you just arrive without a referral from your GP,

you’ll be asked to leave, with only those directed to visit the site actually allowed to enter for a consultation with medical professionals. Operating with a security presence at all times, those asked to head to the clinic will arrive and be asked to stay in their car until motioned to come forward. In keeping with a minimal contact approach, registration will be handled through an intercom outside of the main administration building at the clinic. Once the initial processing of a patient is completed, they’ll be taken into a clinic room by a medical professional who has been through a thorough cleaning process and will be dressed in personal protective equipment. Once in the clinic, the process is sim-

ple based on a two-step procedure, the first of which is a screening of the patient to determine and then a streaming process which will determine the next course of action. Three options are available in the streaming process, with professionals determining whether a patient is well enough to go home and be given medical advice to assist them in their recuperation, the second option is to be referred back to their GP and the third option is hospitalisation, which will see patients moved immediately to the Ashburton Hospital emergency department.

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