Gabi S – Recipient of our food distribution
program in Wilmington.
25
Be our CoMMunities' heaLth partner
Responding to COVID-19
Our Community Health Investment team took quick action to help mitigate COVID-19s
impact the most vulnerable communities in and around the Los Angeles area by:
• providing a COVID-19 testing site for the Wilmington community
• providing grant funding to LA County for equipment, supplies and surge tents at
Harbor UCLA Medical Center
• providing a grant for local community clinics to deliver health services to
approximately 500 homeless through four Project Room Key sites in the South Bay
• loaning the Partners for Healthy Kids mobile unit to the Dockweiler Beach quarantine
site designated for homeless people who were COVID-19 positive or Persons Under
Investigation (PUI).
Community Support Programs
• Creating Opportunities for Physical Activity (COPA) - Multiple schools throughout
Lawndale, Wilmington, and San Pedro continued to receive their physical education
classes all year, virtually.
• Educational Classes - Nutrition (FEAST), mental health, and coping skills (ACES)
• Welcome Baby - Typically a home visit after hospital discharge, these visits
converted to online telehealth visits that included RN and parent coaches. Materials
that were previously provided during the visit were dropped off at the patient 's home.
• Get Out and Live (GOAL) - Virtual nine-lesson diabetes management class.
• Vasek Polak Health Clinic (VPHC) - The clinic continued to provide in-person health
care services. About a year ago, we implemented a program where patients who are
cared for in our emergency departments (ED), and who don't have a primar y care
physician to follow up with, are referred to VPHC. In 2020, total visits were slightly
higher than 2019 and total referrals from the ED (3,323) were up 17% over 2019.
• Emergency Department Community Health Workers help facilitate follow-up
appointments and health insurance enrollment.
• Emergency Department Homeless Navigators work in tandem with our social
workers to help with placement of homeless individuals.
