Breathmobile Can Rescue Students

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Breathmobile Can Rescue Students 840 630 Health Care Centers

Breathmobile Can Rescue Students

Breathmobile Can Rescue Students 

PALMDALE — Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger unveiled the Breathmobile — a new mobile clinic that will visit Antelope Valley schools to treat youngsters with asthma and allergies — at a Friday afternoon ceremony at Dos Caminos Dual Immersion School. 

The mobile clinic will provide asthma management including tests, medications, and education for children and their parents at no cost to local families. Health Services operates the mobile clinic based out of the High Desert Regional Health Center in Lancaster. 

“This truly is a very exciting day for this community. This is something that we have been working on for quite a while,” Barger said at the ceremony, attended by children, parents, Palmdale School District trustees, administrators, county officials and other community leaders. 

There is a huge need in the Antelope Valley for the Breathmobile, the supervisor said. 

“The statistics prove it,” Barger said. “Our Los Angeles County Health Services confirmed that 14.2% of children have asthma in the Antelope Valley and don’t have access to services. That is far too many of our youth — from infants to teenagers — who are suffering.” 

Palmdale School District was the first local school district to join the program. 

“In our community we have a lot of great students, but we also know that we have a lot of needs,” almdale School District Superintendent Raul Maldonado said. 

Palmdale School District trustee Nancy Smith toured the Breathmobile prior to the ceremony. 

“I think it’s wonderful that we’re going to have access for this for our kids,” Smith said. 

Smith added the education portion that district parents are going to receive is also important. 

“So they understand how to give their children the correct medication and what to watch for … because when their kids miss school and their kids are sick, they lose their education for that day,” Smith said. “It’s important that they’re here every day to get the best education that they can get.” 

 “We hope to drive all across the Antelope Valley and find everybody who has asthma,” Quentin O’Brien, CEO for the Ambulatory Care Network of the Health Services said. 

O’Brien added the Breathmobile program is based on forming strong relationships with school districts and working with school health staff to improve the health of children with asthma. 

“We really appreciate the Palmdale School District was one of the first school districts to express interest in participating in this program,” O’Brien said. 

Click here for full article on Valley Press website 

A doctor taking a nasal swab from a driver
What’s happening in the ACN 1024 683 Health Care Centers

What’s happening in the ACN

Swab, Drop, and Go! COVID-19 Testing in the ACN:  Highlight on San Fernando Valley Health Center Group 

By Jeanie Park, MPH, CHES 

Health Services is fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic. While the Medical Centers care for the very ill patients affected by COVID-19, the Ambulatory Care Network (ACN) has taken on a key role in community volume testing for Coronavirus. Martin Luther King Jr. Outpatient Center, Edward R. Roybal Comprehensive Health Center, H. Claude Hudson Comprehensive Health Center and Bellflower Health Center are supporting, large-scale, high volume, LA City testing. El Monte Comprehensive Health Center, High Desert Regional Health Center, Hubert H. Humphrey Comprehensive Health Center, Lake Los Angeles Health Center, La Puente Health Center, Wilmington Heath Center, and Mid-Valley Comprehensive Health Center and Glendale Health Center of the San Fernando Valley Health Center Group (SFVHCG) all answered the call to provide ACN based testing in key areas.   

SFVHCG developed an integrated model for robust testing of Health Services patients and community members at Mid-Valley Comprehensive Health Center and Glendale Health Center, dramatically increasing COVID-19 testing capacity over a short period of time. Mid-Valley CHC went from seeing 67 patients in April to 1,456 in July, testing a total of 1,908 patients between April and July. Glendale HC recently went live on August 17, 2020, and despite very limited space, capacity, and staffing, is testing over 20 patients a day. 

Both sites are proud to maintain a five-minute cycle time for patients, thanks to many workflow changes and countless trial-and-error attempts to refine the process. The groundwork for drive-through testing at Mid-Valley CHC was adapted from Dignity Glendale Memorial Hospital’s drive-through model. Lessons learned from Mid-Valley CHC were then spread to Glendale HC. The teams faced rapidly changing recommendations and Expected Practices, and quickly changing procedures (i.e., the way patients can schedule appointments, type of test kit, etc.) which required staff to move quickly and think out of the box. Some ideas that work well for SFVHCG testing sites:  

  • Using a rolodex to store all Health Services patient labels alphabetically, which makes it easy to find the correct label quickly. 
  • When it’s busy, using post-its to write down type of patient (i.e., Pre-Op, Health Services, or Fulgent) along with patient’s name, date of birth, and appointment time, and sticking it on the car’s windshield before they get to the registration station. This makes it easier for staff at the front to register/check-in – and in the case of Fulgent, activate – patients, and for staff in the swabbing station to confirm two forms of patient identification. 
  • Using VoIPs and walkie-talkies to communicate between stations and inside the clinics. 
  • Using grabbers to give patients handouts and collect specimen kits – an idea taken from Bellflower, thank you! 
  • Team huddles before and after each testing session to review the number of patients scheduled, test all equipment, determine roles, and discuss what worked well and what did not that day.  
  • Having a workgroup comprised of representatives of each department meet weekly to discuss progress, troubleshoot any problem that came up or may come up, and explore ways to improve.
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1st stop at MVCHC – Identification, Check-in, and Education. When patients first arrive, staff at the front check the patient’s identification and registration. Lab labels are placed on the windshield for Health Services patients. Fulgent lab kits are placed on the windshield of Community patients. All patients receive swabbing instructions, home isolation instructions, and either a LA Health Portal card or Healthvana handout as instructions on getting results.

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2nd stop at MVCHC – Swab, Drop, and Go. Patients are directed to one of two lanes. There, a nurse explains how to properly collect a specimen and what to do after they’re finished swabbing before handing them the collection kit. Health Services patients are instructed to hand back their kits to the nurse after they’re finished, while Fulgent patients are instructed to drop their specimen in a drop location before they exit.

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Park and Swab Testing at GHC – Capacity for testing at Glendale HC is much smaller – only three cars can be seen at a time. In order to prevent back-up onto the street, patients are directed to park in one of the three spots. If all three spots are taken, patients are asked to drive around the block and come back in five minutes.

Once parked, staff walks up to the car to confirm registration and two patient ID. Once the patient is checked-in or activated, a nurse tag-teams to provide education and swabbing instructions. Like Mid-Valley, Health Services patients return their specimen to the nurse while Community patients drop theirs in a drop bin as they exit.

COVID-19 testing at SFVHCG has truly been a team effort – nursing, medicine, IT, health education, dental, facilities, and PAC took on new, constantly-changing roles with grace and a sense of humor that made testing so successful.

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LA County Steps Up 1024 768 Health Care Centers

LA County Steps Up

LA County Steps Up as a Safety Net for Latinx, Black, And Other Vulnerable Communities Hit Hard by COVID-19 

With Latinx and Black residents disproportionately affected by the health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, MLK OPC CEO Yolanda Vera, and community partners shared information to local media outlets on Friday, August 7, 2020 about how Los Angeles County has ramped up efforts to serve as the safety net for particularly vulnerable communities in South and Southeast LA – regardless of ability to pay or immigration status.  

LA County has partnered with the private sector to provide additional services that are particularly critical to Latinx, Black and other communities of color disproportionately affected by the pandemic, including: 

  • 10,000 free care kits and other helpful items, donated by United Healthcare at the MLK Outpatient Center 
  • 100,000 N-95 masks donated by Moldex, of which 10,000 will go to healthcare workers and clients at the MLK Medical Campus, Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science, and the Watts Community Latino Organization 
  • Mobile-based health screenings, education and prevention services at the MLK Community Hospital in coordination with the walk-up testing site 
  • Free food, donated by the LA Food Bank and other nonprofits, at various sites countywide 

Click to read the full story on the Second District blog.