By Precious D. Freeman
The Wellness Partners Clinic (WPC), along with its partner, Liberia Insurance Association (LIA), has launched a community health COVID-19 screening and vaccination campaign in Monrovia.
The event, which was held yesterday at the WPC compound on the Congo Town back road, is intended to address COVID concerns in Liberia.
Speaking at the occasion, the Medical Director of Wellness Partners Clinic, Dr. Nicole Cooper, who did the project presentation, said aside from COVID-19 still existing, they don’t only want to engage community-round health care when there’s a crisis, because if they waited until a crisis before engaging in health awareness, the work would be more.
She added that if one engages all the time with health topics, their community would have a good idea of what it takes to support and maintain health. They would know when to visit the doctor, and know what they need.
According to her, when the crisis comes, they will have a lower amount of work to do because they are already used to seeking care, and used to having doctors and nurses around them.
She further said the reason they are carrying out the campaign is to do outreach to communities to make sure they know that as an Insurance Company and a Clinic, they care about the community’s health at all times.
She continued by saying that as COVID – 19 is still going on, there are some elements of fallout from the main pandemic that everyone is still dealing with now.
The Director mentioned that everybody did not get vaccinated at the beginning, some got vaccinated with one type of vaccine and never got the second dose, while some got their second dose but never got their booster, and some were fully vaccinated but never got their vaccine certificate.
In addition, Dr. Cooper said with the advancements in the research, younger people under the age of 18, even as low 5 years old, can be vaccinated. So these are just some of the follow up work that we have to do within the community, she added.
Dr. Cooper maintained that the prevailing narrative is that COVID is gone, but they have decided to combine the two things; to make sure that the communities know that they are caring about them and their health all the time, and to also do some of the follow up work.
Meanwhile, Dr. Cooper noted that they have designed the project in a way that they will go out into the communities, various market places, and community gathering spots throughout Sinkor, Congo Town, and the Paynesville belt.
“We will go into the communities, not only to cover the activities, but also help do blood pressure screening, COVID- 19 vaccination and more, also helping those who may have been vaccinated already to verify their status, get their certificates and their cards,” she said.
She further said that the project is akin to a mop- up exercise, doing the follow up work that is needed and engaging around health in general, because she knows that it’s something that is very important, not only to them as a Clinic and to the community but the Insurance Association, as it pertains to health matters.
Cooper disclosed that health insurance exists to make sure people know how to access care, and can consistently access that care as regularly as they need to.
She also added that health insurance is something that is important to the LIA and WPC and is also important to the community. That is why right now, they are coming together to bring health screening, as well as following up COVID vaccination and verification activities in communities at this time.
She added that the services are going to be free of charge for the communities and they are very grateful to the LIA and Africa Reed for funding the project to allow them go into the communities to carry out such activities.
Meanwhile, Cooper disclosed that they have 36 different outreach trips planned in various areas in various communities, to be able to serve patients, check blood pressure, provide vaccination, and verify vaccination statuses, with no cost for those who will be receiving the services.
She concluded that the program will start in a week and will run for three to four months.
