The City’s third and final COVID-19 Center of Excellence –– a clinic founded to help communities disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic –– opened Feb. 14 at 815 Broadway in Bushwick, reported Brooklyn Paper.
According to NYC Health + Hospitals, the clinic will provide “short- and long-term follow-up care for those recovering from COVID … regardless of ability to pay, immigration status or gender identity.”
This Bushwick COVID-19 Center of Excellence follows previously opened centers in Jackson Heights, Queens and Tremont, the Bronx.
Councilmember Mercedes Narcisse, a registered nurse who also chairs the Council’s Committee on Hospitals said the COVID-19 pandemic had exacerbated health disparities in communities of color. According to the City’s Department of Health data, one in three Bushwick residents has been diagnosed with COVID-19.
Dr. Ted Long, senior vice president for ambulatory care at NYC Health + Hospitals and executive director of the NYC Test & Trace Corp, said the new site was the future, "dedicated to the long-term impacts of this virus, to help all of us recover from the pandemic.”
Outside of COVID-19 care, the clinic will also offer care for sexual and reproductive health, asthma, cancer, dental, diabetes, heart disease, family planning and a variety of other services.
“I’m proud that as we recover, the neighborhoods hit the hardest will have access to world-class health care and support,” said Mayor Eric Adams in a statement.
