Metro Roundup: Atlas, Assurance Labs partner for COVID-19 testing

Atlas Senior Living — a Mountain Brook-based retirement living community — has partnered with Assurance Labs of Vestavia Hills to create a safe, convenient testing site for Atlas senior living members due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The partnership was created earlier and called Longleaf Diagnostic Laboratories, but with the outbreak of COVID-19 the partnership has become even more important.

Longleaf Diagnostic Laboratories was created to address the most common reasons residents in retirement communities need higher-level care, but now it will provide in-house testing kits for the Atlas retirement communities.

The announcement of testing in-house makes Atlas one of the first senior living companies nationwide to offer testing to its members. Atlas also announced it will still be receiving members as long as they are tested before admittance.

Atlas has communities in six Southern states, including a facility in Trussville. Assurance Labs was one of the first labs approved by the FDA to perform COVID-19 testing.

Scott Goldberg, president and CEO of Atlas Senior Living, said secure testing is the key to helping slow the spread.

“It is vital for our greatest generation to receive the utmost care when it comes to their health,” he said. “We are creating a more secure testing environment for them in a contained space and that happens with onsite COVID-19 testing rather than risking someone’s health traveling to a public hospital.”

Co-owner of Assurance Labs and Longleaf Diagnostic Laboratories Chad Austin echoed Goldberg’s concern and need for a healthy testing site.

“It is paramount to be able to perform the sample collection on-site both from a convenience standpoint but also a safety one,” he said. “As mentioned, this population is vulnerable, and limiting their exposure at testing sites, doctors’ offices and hospitals is crucial for their health.”

Along with the testing, Atlas communities will be adopting new policies to keep its members safe. Goldberg said they have taken and enforced precautions to try and stay healthy throughout this time.

“The well-being of our residents and associates remain our top priority,” he said. “More recent procedures include a daily screening of associates prior to their shift, no outside visitation, no communal dining, vendor drop-off restrictions, checking symptoms of each resident twice daily and COVID-19 testing prior to admission.

"In addition to these procedures, we continue to monitor the situation at state levels and from the CDC,” he continued. “As always, our team remains diligent in our efforts to minimize illness in our communities. We continue to be proactive in hand washing, cleaning surface areas and other cleaning protocols to reduce and prevent the spread of the illness.”

The hope is that testing and strict rules will limit the spread within the Atlas retirement communities and keep the members healthy.

Testing and vigilance will be an important step in keeping the members healthy and also isolate the spread if a member was to contract COVID-19, Austin said.

“If COVID-19 spreads within a community, bad things will happen,” he said. “Knowing who is positive — residents and employees — allows us to isolate and limit the spread. Also, if we know who has it before day five to seven, we can start treatment regimens, which are shown to reduce hospitalizations. We can keep our residents out of the hospital and take up beds and vents.”