With the cold, blustering winds that the Canadian winters bring, the last thing most of us want to do is be waiting outside in long lines. With the lockdowns and restrictions in place throughout Scarborough and Toronto, long lines at the grocery store are imminent – but for the residents of Scarborough, waiting in a cold line to get a COVID-19 test wasn’t an option for the Scarborough Health Network. That’s where the University of Toronto Scarborough and the Centre for Immigrant and Community Services stepped up.

Scarborough Health Network (SHN) is proud to be partnering with the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) and the Centre for Immigrant and Community Services (CICS) to provide new, indoor facilities for COVID-19 testing throughout the winter. This will ensure the Scarborough community will not need to wait outside during those cold winter months.

Both UTSC and CICS are placing the community’s needs at the forefront by providing their spaces, demonstrating the dedication, commitment and strength of Scarborough. For more information on the new indoor assessment centres, visit www.shn.ca/covid19-assess/.

“We’re proud to partner with SHN to help expand COVID-19 testing in Scarborough. Our community has been hard hit by the pandemic, and as anchor institutions in the eastern GTA, it’s imperative that we work together to utilize our resources to help get through this difficult time for our community and region.”

Andrew Arifuzzaman
Chief Administrative Officer, UTSC

“Our front-line health workers have borne the brunt of the impact of this pandemic, and as a community-based agency serving immigrants, we feel a civic obligation to help in some way to curb the spread of COVID-19. Therefore we are particularly glad to be able to collaborate with the Scarborough Health Network to furnish a completely contained area in our headquarters for COVID-19 assessment. It is indeed an honour for CICS to play a small part in the contact tracing efforts.”

Moy Wong-Tam
Executive Director, Centre for Immigrant and Community Services

“Our partners continue to demonstrate their commitment to supporting our hospitals and our community during times of need. We are extremely thankful for their willingness to work with our team to provide these testing centres at their facilities, which in turn helps us to deliver safe, exceptional care through the winter months.”

Elizabeth Buller
President and CEO, Scarborough Health Network