LA-Based Public Health Network Approved as an Pilot Site for COVID-19 Treatment by Federal Department of Health and Human Services; Vaccination Site for LA County
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 30, 2020
Contact: Cabot Petoia, cabot@megaphonestrategies.com, 828-899-9239
** To book an interview, contact cabot@megaphonestrategies.com **
Los Angeles — Today, St. John’s Well Child and Family Center, a network of Federally Qualified Health Centers centers that serves over 100,000 people in South and Central LA and is the largest provider for undocumented individuals in the country, announced they have been approved by the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as a pilot site to provide COVID-19 monoclonal antibody treatment.
At their clinics, St. John’s will provide monoclonal antibody infusion treatments, which help decrease symptoms, prevent hospitalization and death from COVID-19. This will help prevent South LA area hospitals from becoming overcrowded, and ultimately prevent unnecessary death of those infected.
Today, St. John’s also received eight refrigerators to store COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, ramping up to fill their new role as an official LA County vaccination site. They anticipate being able to vaccinate their own staff of frontline healthcare workers as soon as mid-December, with the chronically ill and elderly receiving the vaccine soon after. They anticipate the general public will have access to the vaccine by March 2021, making South LA among the first communities to have access to COVID-19 treatments and vaccines. With this refrigeration capacity, St. John’s will be able to vaccinate tens of thousands of South LA residents a week.
“After working quickly and tirelessly to create brand new systems, practices, outreach and education efforts to combat COVID-19 in South and Central LA since February, we are relieved and honored to be one of the first sites to soon begin providing prevention of the virus with two remarkably effective vaccines, as well as treatment for those who test positive,” said Jim Mangia, President and CEO of St. John’s Well Child and Family Center. “Our patients, many of whom are undocumented frontline workers and African American families, have been hard hit by the pandemic — physically, emotionally, and financially. We look forward to bringing them the healthcare they deserve, and continue working to keep our communities safe and well.”
Earlier this month, St. John’s received a $840,000 grant from the LA County Department of Public Health to ramp up COVID-19 education in South LA and Compton and a $350,000 to increase its successful contract tracing efforts to reduce the spread of COVID in South LA.
In August, they released a comprehensive report outlining the work St. John’s completed for the first 6 months of the pandemic.