Recovered Covid Patients Send Their Leftover Meds to Those in Need

Schools have closed across the nation to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, but that's left many students without access to meals. To address this, Kanawha County has started to use school buses to transport meals to students, both offering reliable access to meals and eliminating the possibility of spreading the virus by reducing the need for children to stand in lines to receive the meals.

In early January, doctors at UW Medical Center began preparing for a coronavirus outbreak by transforming a research lab into a screening center for coronavirus that delivers results within a day. Now, coupled with a mobile clinic that allows for people to be tested from within the confines of their cars, the city has been able to test a large volume of people more safely than if they were being tested from within a hospital.

Boda boda motorcycle taxi riders have become frontline HIV health advocates through the LISTEN (Local Innovation Scaled Through Enterprise Network) Community of Practice. Trained in HIV self-testing, prevention methods and counseling, the riders hold monthly awareness days, operate two community testing stations, and distribute preventive items to the public. Since the initiative began in 2019, the association has reached approximately 10,000 people, referred 2,000 for antiretroviral treatment and tested around 400 people per month.

Doctors and nurses with the Sickle Cell Foundation Nigeria provide free specialized care to over 5,000 people at a local hospital. An annual CT scan monitors patients' risk of stroke, with those who are high-risk getting one every three months. The CT scans are provided at a highly subsidized cost because the machine was donated to the hospital. Patients with leg ulcers, a common ailment, are treated three times a week and given free supplies to clean wounds at home. The foundation does outreach to rural areas, where they have provided education, genetic counseling, and medical services to over 8,000 people.

Legacy of Legends, a nonprofit that helps families overcome traumatic experiences that often stem from poverty, opened the Frayser Clinic to provide free wellness exams to children. The clinic is run out of a local church and is open twice a month to help families access care. At each visit a doctor assesses a child’s physical health, mental and behavioral health and the clinic provides families with information about social services and connects them with a healthcare navigator, who helps families understand their child’s health insurance and reconnect them to a primary care physician.

Because of coordinated partnerships between local governments, state health departments, and nonprofit groups, more and more farmworkers are receiving COVID-19 vaccinations. Through the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Farmworker Health program and its partners, nearly 14,000 doses were administered to the farmworker community over two months. Advocates also have to dispel rumors and myths about the vaccines, but they are working to combat that misinformation and make it easier for them to get vaccinated.

To prevent the transmission of coronavirus to medical professionals and other patients, a hospital in Seoul has started using a make-shift phone booth approach to administering tests. Within seven minutes, doctors are able to communicate with the patient, conduct the test from within an air-tight booth, and then disinfect the booth, all of which have significantly improved the hospital's efficiency of administering the test.

Health care workers at the University of Washington are now able to get tested for coronavirus via a drive-through. Providing both convenience and safety by limiting exposure of the potentially ill, the test only takes five minutes and those tested usually get their results within a day.

To limit exposure during coronavirus testing, South Korea began piloting drive-thru test sites that allow those being tested to remain in their cars. The drive-thru, which sends results to the patient via text message three days later, has tested nearly 400 people in one day, helping to ease pressure oncovi other testing sites.

Two of America’s largest cities, New York City and San Francisco, are working to reduce HIV rates by bringing better health care options closer to the communities and connecting individuals with resources such as insurance and payment methods. Although the two cities are using different approaches, both are seeing early success in fighting against the epidemic.