Residents line up for testing, drug disposal, document shredding

The line of cars for COVID-19 testing overflowed onto the street Saturday morning outside the Clark County Government Center.

Commissioner Lawrence Weekly organized the event, which lasted from 9 a.m. until noon, where residents could be tested for the coronavirus, dispose of medicine or electronics, shred documents and pick up backpacks with school supplies. All attendees drove through the center’s parking lots, stopping at booths to get tested or pick up supplies.

Event supporters included the Blind Center of Nevada, SilverSummit Healthplan, Battle Born Progress and Las Vegas police.

“We found this to be important because, with the pandemic, lots of people are having time to go through old stuff,” Weekly said, referring to the event’s document shredding. “This was more community driven, and we just said, ‘We’ll get on top of it.’”

At 9:30 a.m., there were already around 100 cars lined up for coronavirus testing, and Clark County Fire Department Captain Nels Eastgard said there would be around 300 tests administered. Eastgard is also an incident commander with the Medical Surge Area Command, which has been providing much of the community-based testing in the Valley, including at Saturday’s event.

SilverSummit Healthplan partnered with Weekly’s office to provide 2,000 backpacks and other back-to-school supplies for children in the area. They also handed out pencil pouches and notebooks to families with children in the car.

Las Vegas resident Alejandra Garcia brought her three kids to the event, saying she was glad for the opportunity to pick up free supplies.

“I don’t have so much to spend, and they need school supplies,” she said.

JoAnn Prevetti, manager of marketing and communications for SilverSummit Healthplan, said in a statement that the organization was proud to help support local students through their partnership with Weekly’s office.

“In times like these, we, as community members, must come together to help our neighbors,” Prevetti said in the statement.

Contact Amanda Bradford at abradford@reviewjournal.com. Follow @amandabrad_uc on Twitter.