April 14, 2020

The face of McKenzie County’s COVID-19 testing

The face of McKenzie County’s COVID-19 testing

By Ashleigh Plemper
Farmer Staff Writer

While it’s typically a prisoner you think of when you envision a person visiting their loved ones through a piece of glass as they talk on a telephone, that’s what Dr. Anita Pedersen of ANOVA Family Health Center has been doing for the last month after her clinic became the prime location to offer testing for the coronavirus (COVID-19) since mid- March.
“Dr. Pedersen has stayed every single night in ANOVA Family Health Center since March 16,” says Dori Sparby, ANOVA Family Health Center clinic manager. “This will be her fourth full week of spending the night at the clinic. We actually have a bed set up for her.”
After taking on the commitment of being the one and only provider in McKenzie County to offer hands-on testing for COVID-19, Sparby says the clinic has created a high barrier of restrictions around Pedersen in order to keep her family safe.
“Dr. Pedersen cannot go home to her family and stay with them because by testing these people, she could contract it easily,” Sparby says.
And with Pedersen having family members who are living at her home who fall in the category of those considered high-risk, it’s extra critical that she maintains her distance for now.
“Her elderly parents live with her and her son has some health issues. So she cannot risk the possibility of taking the virus to her family,” Sparby says.

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