Beach Haven parish used for testing site

Maria Assumpta Catholic church in Beach Haven, Auckland proved to be the perfect location to hold Covid-19 mobile testing.

Parish Secretary Marc Theron said The Fono Health Service and the Maori Health Gain Unit of the Waitemata District Health Board contacted the parish separately to request the use of the parish grounds for pop-up testing sites.

“The reason they liked our church was due to our multicultural community and the one entrance and one exit,” he said.

Mr Theron said he advertised the dates on their social media sites and newsletters “so they did come for tests”.

The Fono team’s testing station was set up on September 17-19 and was focussed on the Pacifica community.

The WDHB’s pop-up test site, on the other hand, was focussed on the Maori community and was

organised on September 24-26.