On Nov. 2, the new facility, which provides blood collection and urinalysis services and aims to serve between 300 and 400 patients daily, opened to the public at 3-1581 Regent Ave. W.
"The intent was to improve customer experience, and employee experience," explained Dr. Jenisa Naidoo, medical director for Dynacare Manitoba. "To make it more accessible and to see patients in a timely manner."
Currently, Dynacare owns all the facilities outside of hospital labs in Winnipeg that provide blood collection and urinalysis services. The company operates 31 locations and five super sites in Manitoba. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, though, 14 sites have been closed, as they are unable to meet social-distancing requirements.
"With COVID, there have been challenges," Naidoo admitted, adding that the new sites have been designed with social distancing — for both patients and staff — in mind.
"We didn’t have previously weekend hours, so patients who work Monday to Friday have access on weekends," Naidoo said. "We have more staff, more sites to draw blood from."
A new super site is also expected to open later this month at 103-1455 Henderson Hwy. Naidoo said the Henderson site will be comparable to Regent, in layout and capacity. The two supersites are expected to reduce wait times for patients at nearby Dynacare collection centres, located at 701 Regent Ave. W, 1210 Rothesay St., and a "pop-up" location at 1400 Henderson Hwy.