Wife of firefighter helps bring rapid coronavirus testing to first responders
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DALLAS, TX (KTVT) — When Adriana Gallegos took her son to get tested for COVID-19 at a children’s clinic, his results came back within 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, she said her firefighter husband and fellow firefighters had been waiting days to get their results from city-funded tests and missing work in the process.
“They are passionate about what they do,” she said. “They don’t want to miss work. They come every day ready to work and you’re telling them you have got to be off for 14 days while you wait for an answer?”
Gallegos, who works closely with the Dallas Hispanic Firefighters Association, told the association she had to do something.
“So I reached out to the clinic we went to which was Virtual Care for Kids and looked them up online, found the president Kevin Pearce and messaged him on Linkedin,” she said.
His team offered to donate hundreds of COVID-19 rapid tests and a machine to process results.
The rapid testing started this week. A group of firefighters have been trained to administer the tests.
“Honestly, it’s been surreal and I really believe it’s a God thing,” she said.
“This rapid testing is going to help us out so much,” her husband, Brian, said. ”This way we don’t go home and infect our families and continue to take care of the citizens of Dallas.”
Right now they have the capability of testing up to 60 people per day, but are limiting testing to association members only by appointment only.
In the future, they do hope to expand to all first responders.
In an effort to expand, the Dallas Hispanic Firefighters Association is taking donations for this operation and is also looking for PPE donations.
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