Allergy-testing service being offered in Deer Lake

DEER LAKE - The H. W. House Health Care Centre in Deer Lake is now offering a new service to residents on the west coast.

As of last Friday, the centre is capable of performing allergy tests on site, at the centre's new allergy skin-testing clinic.

Previously, patients concerned about possible allergies were forced to travel to Grand Falls-Windsor or even to St. John's in order to have the testing completed, as the service was not offered anywhere on the coast, including Corner Brook.

The reaction from patients using the new testing service has been a positive one, said the health centre's father-and-son team of Dr. John Kielty Sr. and Dr. John Kielty Jr.

"I think people were in need of it," said Kielty Jr., who is responsible for the creation of the clinic.

"I have to give him the credit on this," said Kielty Sr., who admitted that he had not considered taking on the task of establishing a testing service.

"There is a fair amount of infrastructure involved," he said, pointing out that in addition to finding space, the clinic required the training of a full-time medical assistant as well as the clinic doctors. That training was completed last week by Dr. Susan Russell, who flew in from Ontario to perform the service.

Now, thanks to the efforts of Kielty Jr., the Deer Lake clinic is able to test patients for possible reactions to over 50 environmental and household allergens and over 200 different food allergens.

"We are hoping to do some of the testing down in Corner Brook too," said Kielty Jr., "in a satellite clinic."

According to both doctors, having the ability to receive a more immediate answer as to whether or not a patient is reacting to a specific allergen does help with reaching a true diagnosis.

"We often before - waiting for the test - could narrow it down," said Kielty Jr., "but this gives the patient a definite answer. Patients are very relieved to actually know."

"It takes about 15 minutes," said Kielty Sr. "It's relatively straight forward, but it's the gold standard when it comes to allergic testing."

The allergy clinic is not expected to affect wait times, according to both doctors.
"It really shouldn't," said Kielty Jr. "We're pretty much running it with a full-time staff here," he added, referring to the full-time work of the medical assistant.

"It's a separate functional entity," added Kielty Sr., saying should a patient come in with another type of complaint, he or she will be seen by him just as quickly as they had been in the past.

The clinic will operate on referrals. Anyone who is concerned that he or she may have an allergy, should consult their family doctor immediately. The family doctor can then refer him or her to the clinic for testing.

Once the testing is complete, if a patient is indeed found to have a particular allergy, treatment can be given.

"If they're allergic to something, we give them a small dilutent of that allergen once a week for 16 weeks and that lessens their symptoms," said Kielty Jr.

While the doors haven't been beaten down just yet by people anxious to be tested, both doctors expect to see a constant stream of patients as more local physicians find out about the new service.

"I don't think anybody else in the region knows yet," said Kielty Jr.

The testing clinic in Deer Lake will operate on a full-time basis.