CREDIT: HANNAH THEODORE
Fanshawe's mobile testing centre located outside the Student Wellness Centre.

Students enrolled at Fanshawe College can get tested for COVID-19 without leaving campus.

Students who are showing symptoms of the virus can visit the Fowler Kennedy Medical Clinic (London Campus, Room J1004). The clinic is available by appointment only from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Appointments must be made over the phone, as walk-ins will not be accepted.

Students who are not showing symptoms of COVID-19 (asymptomatic), can receive a test through a mobile unit, which is stationed just outside the Student Wellness Centre. The mobile unit is available for all asymptomatic students between the hours of 9 a.m. and 12 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday. The mobile unit is a new addition to Fanshawe’s COVID testing capabilities, having just become available on Sept. 21. The Fowler Medical Clinic has been offering testing through the summer. The addition of the mobile unit was in response to the return of students on campus at the start of the semester. It also coincided with an increase of local cases of COVID-19.


The facilities are available to Fanshawe staff and faculty, vice-president of student services, Michele Beaudoin said that the priority is on testing students.

“We’re trying to focus as much on students as we can, because it is a student funded clinic,” she said.

Beaudoin added that should increased testing become necessary, Fanshawe is prepared to invest in more facilities. She said that the college is already considering using larger spaces on campus that could handle increased testing, if needed.

“We’re in the middle of looking at that now,” said Beaudoin. “Currently we’re OK, we’re not at capacity, and we’re taking a look at what it might look like if we had to expend our capacity, with our focus being our own students.”

For now though, she said that between the mobile testing unit and the Fowler Kennedy Clinic, neither have exceeded their testing capacities. The mobile unit has a capacity of about 35 to 40 tests a day.

“As long as there’s not a lineup of students, they can be taken directly in to get their test,” said Beaudoin. “We haven’t hit a volume limit in the mobile unit yet, so it’s been working OK so far.”

Beaudoin said that an outbreak at Fanshawe might be avoidable as long as students continue to follow public health guidelines like wearing masks and practicing social distancing.

“We’re continuing to strongly advise students to follow the COVID protocols...,” she said. “... people have roommates and classmates where they’re spending more time because they’re in class or living with them, but once you start going beyond those circles, that’s when the risks start.”

At this time the mobile unit has primarily been used to test students who are required to be tested for work placements. The accessible testing site is ideal for students who want to avoid the long lines at London’s assessment centres in the broader community.