Residents are reminded that they can still stop by the Service Center for Independent Life, located at 107 S. Spring St., if they need to take a COVID-19 test or replenish their supply of at home tests. Both opportunities are free to the community and are mainly geared toward those with disabilities, seniors and residents who have trouble getting about — guests normally serviced by SCIL.

On-site testing
During the pandemic, SCIL partnered with a testing lab called Health Care Provider Labs to offer COVID-19 testing for the community, according to SCIL’s program manager Chelsea DiGerolamo.

“It’s an official lab test. A lot of people need that for traveling,” she said. “We’re offering that [option] for free, you just have to call and make an appointment.”

The test is a nasal swab that residents will receive from SCIL staff and can administer themselves. Residents will then place the swab back in the kit’s testing tube for shipment to the testing site. Residents can expect their results in approximately 48 hours.

Residents can schedule their COVID-19 test at SCIL by calling the organization at (909) 621-6722. Testing times are limited with slots available between 8 a.m. to noon and then from 12 to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

At-home test kits
A few weeks ago, SCIL was gifted somewhere near 1,000 rapid at home COVID-19 antigen tests by the state. If residents want to take a few home, there is just one catch you should be wary of according to DiGerolamo. The test kits expire in April of 2022, which is why SCIL wants to offload them so quickly.

“A lot of people with disabilities and seniors are unable to go out and get these tests and they are quite a vulnerable population,” DiGerolamo said. “We’re trying to focus on people with disabilities and seniors; however, if the need is there, we’ll go ahead and…provide them [to residents],”

These at home tests are also nasal swab tests, and provide results within 30 minutes. The tests are manufactured by AccessBio and come with two testing kits per box.

“The people ahead of us, they worked with the [state] government to get these tests. A bunch of tests allotted for us so we can provide them to our disadvantaged communities,” she added. “We basically got a bunch from the state and we’re giving them out.”

All residents have to do to claim a few free at home tests is again call SCIL at (909) 621-6722. Residents can pick up the tests at SCIL’s offices, located inside the Spring Street Center. SCIL is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

SCIL is not shy to deliver the at home tests to seniors who are not able to come by the center, according to DiGerolamo. She shared if the residents can find a hub of others who need these sorts of tests, they’d like to hear from them to set a date up.

“We are not going to say we can’t [deliver],” she said. “If there’s a couple seniors who need it in like a senior home and they can find a bunch of other people around them that need it, we’ll definitely go and give out to the whole apartment building.”