Hempstead awards $2M federal grant to Northwell Health for COVID-19 testing
Healthcare workers stand outside the Family Health Service COVID-19 testing tent in May. Northwell Health plans to open testing sites in Hempstead Town communities hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Credit: Howard Schnapp
Hempstead Town officials voted Tuesday to award Northwell Health $2 million in federal grant funding for the launch of 15 COVID-19 testing sites in its communities hit hard by the pandemic.
Northwell Health will use the CARES Act funds to launch testing sites in parts of town with the most infections, including Hempstead, Uniondale, Freeport and Five Towns.
The Town Board partnered with Northwell to target minority communities and housing projects that may not have access to testing, officials said.
The board approved the federal funding by a 7-0 vote.
“We are having a collaboration to save lives,” Hempstead Town Supervisor Don Clavin said at Tuesday’s meeting. “This pandemic has not hit every community evenhandedly. Some communities were hit more severely than others. We’re going to the hardest hit areas. Northwell will team with civic groups in multiple languages and we are going to save lives.”
Testing sites will include five locations in Hempstead Village and three in Uniondale. Other testing sites are set for Freeport, Lawrence, Elmont, Island Park, Oceanside, Baldwin and Levittown.
Northwell officials said they hope to open the testing sites in the next three weeks.
The funding is part of $133 million in federal CARES Act funding the town received for COVID-19 relief. Hempstead previously awarded $4 million to local hospitals and $4 million to food banks.
Northwell has already conducted more than 43,000 tests at about 60 churches in the New York City boroughs and across Long Island, CEO Michael Dowling said.
“We’re testing in the lower-income communities because they’ve been hardest hit,” Dowling said. “This virus has had a disproportionate effect on suffering communities, including in the Town of Hempstead.”
The new testing will be held at community centers, churches, housing complexes and LIRR parking lots in Oceanside and Island Park.
Northwell officials will also include a mobile testing site that can go to different communities, said Debbie Salas-Lopez, the organization's senior vice president of community and population health. She said funding will also assist health care providers with outreach and education to encourage testing.
The Village of Hempstead has seen more than 2,300 positive cases, followed by more than 1,700 cases in Freeport and 1,300 cases in Uniondale.
Northwell officials said they plan to establish a hotline to register for testing in the town. The testing centers will also accept walk-ins for anyone who wants a test. Some labs have been able to return results within 48 hours and will also test for antibodies for those who have already had the virus.
“You see what’s going around this country, we should be scared,” Clavin said. “We’ve seen the worst in New York and we don’t want a second wave.”
John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.
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