Please note our Medicine Hat operations are unfortunately closed until further notice.
Medicine Hat Private Blood Testing!
Ichor is now offering a suite of private pay lab tests through our Medicine Hat Office. These test offerings include:
- Covid-19 Testing (T-Cell, Antibody, Rapid Antigen, Telehealth Rapid Antigen)
- Cardiovascular Health
- Hormone Testing
- General Health and Wellness
- And More!
Please note, some tests may not be available in Medicine Hat due to the test processing requirements and shipping logistics.
We are proud to be working with Mayo Clinic Laboratories as well as our in house Laboratory in Calgary to bring these tests to you! Simply book your 15 minute time slot at the office, and select and pay for your tests on arrival.
Frequently Asked Questions
When our body faces off against a virus our immune system creates antibodies to fight it. By testing for the antibodies specific to SARS-CoV-2 (the official name for the coronavirus which causes the disease COVID-19) and finding them within a patient, we can determine if people have been infected with the disease and likely have built up antibodies against it, at least for a short period of time.
Unlike other tests that diagnose COVID-19 through either a throat or nasal swab by looking for genetic evidence of the virus, antibody testing requires serology (a blood test) to see if our body's immune system has developed antibodies after fighting off SARS-CoV-2. The wonderful part about antibodies is that each one is specific to the virus or bacteria that it was produced to fight, so we can single them out and determine whether or not a person has been infected with that specific virus. Antibodies also last a lot longer in our bodies than the genetic material of the virus, allowing for a much wider window to detect it.
Antibody testing for COVID-19 is important because it may help identify those individuals who have recovered from the virus. Those who have the antibodies for COVID-19 most likely have developed some sort of protection or immunity against reinfection, at least for a short period of time, allowing them to return to work or other activities safely. Because the antibodies for SARS-CoV-2 remain in the body for a much longer period of time than the genetic material of the virus itself, antibody testing is also a great tool for determining past infections. As we begin to shift to the next phase of this pandemic, antibody testing is also being looked at as a way to help return things to the way they were before the virus struck.
We collect specimens on behalf of several labs that offer a SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Test. In general, if your test result comes back negative, the negative result is reported with 99% certainty. If your test result is positive, a confirmatory test is then run. If your confirmatory test is positive, it will validate the presence of antibodies with a Positive Predictive Value of 99%.
No, the COVID-19 serology antibody test is only designed to determine a past infection or exposure to SARS-CoV-2. The antibodies that are created to fight off the virus usually appear around 7-14 days after contracting SARS-CoV-2. While it's possible that a serology antibody test could indicate a current infection, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing via a nasal or throat swab that looks for the genetic material of the virus is currently the best way to identify active SARS-CoV-2 infections.
Results will be emailed to you by the lab that ran your tests.