TESTING FACILITY OPENS AT FORMER WALGREENS SITE

A COVID-19 testing site opened at the former site of Walgreens at 347 E. 95th St. Ninth Ward Alderman Anthony A. Beale said Walgreens has been in the community for years and wanted to give back. Photo courtesy of Alderman Anthony A. Beale
A COVID-19 testing site opened at the former site of Walgreens at 347 E. 95th St. Ninth Ward Alderman Anthony A. Beale said Walgreens has been in the community for years and wanted to give back. Photo courtesy of Alderman Anthony A. Beale

Testing Facility opens at former Walgreens site

BY TIA CAROL JONES

A drive-through, appointment only COVID-19 testing site, has opened at the former site of the Walgreens at 347 E. 95th St.

Ninth Ward Alderman Anthony Beale was instrumental in getting the facility in his ward. Beale said Walgreens reached out and wanted to give back to the community.

Walgreens expressed an interest in having a test site in the area, Beale said, “and they looked around and we saw that we had an empty Walgreens on 95th and King Drive,” Beale explained.

Walgreens closed the location on June 27, 2017. Beale said he had been trying to put a daycare and nursery at that location and has been working with the company. He said while community residents were in favor of having the daycare and nursery there, in the meantime, it will be used for the purpose of administering COVID-19 tests.

“It was a great location to put the testing site, so Walgreen’s put the resources behind it,” Beale added.

Beale said the site was supposed to be open in early May, but Walgreens had to do some work on the site, since it was vacant for almost three years.

“We’re really excited that they’re online. And before it even opened, they had 60 people signed up to do testing, without it even being publicized,” the alderman said.

Beale added while Walgreens has been a partner in the community for years, it was unfortunate that the company closed some of its stores on the South Side. “I just think this is a great temporary re-use of a piece of property in order to continue getting testing done on the South Side of Chicago,” he said.

The site will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Sunday. Appointments must be made at www.walgreens.com/covid19testing. Results will be communicated to patients in two to three days, either by phone or by email. The test is free of charge.

“I am delighted that Walgreens has agreed to turn their former 95th Street store into a testing site,” he said. “The health and well-being of our residents is my number one priority and our community is among the hardest-hit, so we must mobilize every asset and community partner to do whatever we can to lessen the tremendous burden on our residents.”

Beale has also distributed thousands of masks to people in the community. He said it is important to do this kind of outreach during the pandemic. He added when “our community [is] being hit the hardest with this COVID-19 [and when] we’re dying at a record rate of any ethnicity, you have to step up and do something.”

At the first giveaway in late April, there were 6,500 masks distributed. There was another giveaway in early May, where Beale partnered with Reverend James Meeks to distribute more than a million masks on the South and West sides. “The first one was huge and went over well. The second one was extremely successful. And, we just want to continue to do that to bring awareness,” he said. “And so, we have to do our own part here in our community. I’m taking the bull by the horns to save my community,” he said.

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