As local hospitals have worked to increase their capacity to treat COVID-19 patients, San Diego area health clinics have transformed the way they deliver care.
At La Maestra Community Health Centers’ facility in City Heights, the clinic has limited the services it provides in person, but it remains open to serve its patients whose incomes are at or below poverty level.
“We have to stay open. Our patients are not going to go anywhere else,” said Sonia Tucker, the centers’ quality improvement director.
Besides City Heights, La Maestra has health centers in El Cajon, National City and Lemon Grove.
inewsource visited the City Heights clinic on a recent Wednesday to see how its healthcare workers were meeting the challenges of serving patients amid the coronavirus pandemic.
When patients arrive for appointments at the clinic, they are directed to specific entrances where they are screened for COVID-19 symptoms.
In a separate building that had been used to assist human trafficking victims, clinic workers have created what they call the “Cold and Cough Clinic.”
Any patients who arrive with coronavirus-related symptoms are sent to that building for treatment. The staffers who work there rotate weekly to try to limit the amount of exposure they have to COVID-19.
Zoë Meyers is a photo and video journalist at inewsource. Zoë loves working as a visual journalist because it gives her the privilege of witnessing moments in people's personal lives and in our community that can enhance our understanding of important stories. When she's not behind the camera, Zoë...
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