This health center receives HHS funding and has Federal Public Health Service (PHS) deemed status with respect to certain health or health-related claims, including medical malpractice claims, for itself and its covered individuals. LCHC complies with USDA guidelines as an equal opportunity employer.
LYNN — The shot took less than five seconds to administer, but it will save Anna Perez from months of stress and worry. Perez, a dentist at the Lynn Community Health Center, was the first person in Lynn to receive the new Moderna vaccine, which has been shown to be 94 percent effective at preventing COVID-19. “You know, I didn’t feel a thing,” she said. “But my arm feels very good, and I feel comfortable. I didn’t know I was going to be the first person. I have no words to say how much I appreciate the opportunity.” The two-dose Moderna vaccine was authorized for use by the United States last Friday, after it was shown to be effective at preventing the virus in a study of 30,000 volunteers aged 18 and older. It also strongly protected older adults, who are most vulnerable. It differs from the Pfizer vaccine which was also recently released in that it doesn’t need to be stored at ultra-frozen temperatures. “We just decided that Pfizer was too complicated,” said Kiame Mahaniah, the LCHC Chief Executive Officer. “The Moderna vaccine was more user-friendly.” LCHC received its first round of vaccines Tuesday. Geoff Pechinsky, the Chief Medical Officer at LCHC, was hopeful that the vaccine could help them continue to assist the local hospitals in dealing with the virus. “I’m optimistic,” said Pechinsky. “We’ve all been very tired and worried the last nine months. “ ...
https://www.itemlive.com/2020/12/23/first-moderna-vaccines-administered-at-lynn-community-health-center/LYNN — Residents who participated in the city of Lynn’s first COVID-19 “Tele-Town Hall” on Tuesday night raised questions surrounding how often they should get tested, the accuracy of test results, and whether people become immune, or if they’re susceptible to reinfection. As health experts continue to be concerned with the risk of a “double viral infection” during the upcoming flu season, the city’s public health director Michele Desmarais, Mayor Thomas M. McGee, and a panel of three local doctors also urged Lynn residents to get a flu vaccine this year. “The flu vaccine is extremely safe,” said Dr. Mitchell Rein, chief medical officer of North Shore Medical Center, who acknowledged that some individuals are concerned about vaccinations in general. “It really is the best way to prevent the flu. This year it is exceptionally important we do everything we can to keep the risk of flu at a minimum. The risk of having both COVID and flu at the same time could be devastating for (people).” ...
https://www.itemlive.com/2020/10/06/lynn-town-hall-talks-covid/I took the plunge Sunday. That doesn’t necessarily mean what it did 43 years ago, when I took the ultimate plunge and got married. But these days, the expression can mean any one of a number of things. In this case, after five months of talking about it, I finally agreed to take a COVID test. It wasn’t merely because I had nothing better to do. I took it because someone I’d come in contact with several times over the last month felt sick enough over the weekend to get one. I kind of wanted to avoid the Christmas Rush, so to speak, and get one before I absolutely had to for official “quarantine” purposes, or before I felt too sick to drag myself down to the health center. As for the first part of the last paragraph, I picked a time to get one — Sunday afternoon from 1-4 p.m. in the tents on Buffum Street in Lynn — when I might as well have waited until the Christmas Rush. It took almost 2 ½ hours from the time I stepped into the line until I walked out of there. And as for the second, as I write this, I feel fine. The test, as I said, was purely cautionary. There was more than enough time to make a couple of casual observations. First, if you’re getting tested for a virus that has killed 160,000 of your fellow Americans, then you’d darn well better put a mask on. I’m proud of my fellow Lynners, because everyone in that line, from little kids on up, wore masks. Second, the worst part of queueing up for anything is to watch people who try to jump the line. You see this so often at the store when people leave their carts in the line so that they can take another quick run to get the one item they “forgot” to buy. Or perhaps they go into the gas station facing the wrong way rather than wait their turns. Or perhaps you’re waiting for the oncoming traffic to take a left into the Dunkin Donuts drive-thru line only to have two cars coming the other way sneak in there rather than allow you in. Maddening. ...
https://www.itemlive.com/2020/08/10/steve-krause-thoughts-while-waiting-for-a-covid-test/LYNN — Free coronavirus testing will continue to be offered in the city of Lynn until mid-September. The testing, part of the state’s “Stop the Spread” initiative, was scheduled to end on Friday, but has been extended to Sept. 12 due to a recent spike in positive cases statewide. The initiative launched last month and consists of offering free coronavirus testing in hard-hit communities. At its launch, the initiative targeted eight communities, but has since expanded to 17, including Lynn, Chelsea and Revere. In Lynn, the majority of testing is offered through the Lynn Community Health Center at the center’s outdoor walk-through site in the Element Care parking lot on Buffum Street. Additional testing is also offered through Health Innovations/Healthy Streets Outreach Program, which has a mobile testing van set up at Lynn English High School four times a week. Dr. Kiame Mahaniah, CEO of Lynn Community Health Center, said he was pleased that the state opted to extend its testing initiative, given the rising case numbers that have been seen since late July. “I think for Lynn, it’s great because we’ve been seeing a rising rate in the past two weeks, so it’s great we can continue offering this service,” said Mahaniah. ...
https://www.itemlive.com/2020/08/10/free-covid-testing-in-lynn-extended-into-september/LYNN — Free coronavirus testing will continue to be offered in the city of Lynn until mid-September. The testing, part of the state’s “Stop the Spread” initiative, was scheduled to end on Friday, but has been extended to Sept. 12 due to a recent spike in positive cases statewide. The initiative launched last month and consists of offering free coronavirus testing in hard-hit communities. At its launch, the initiative targeted eight communities, but has since expanded to 17, including Lynn, Chelsea and Revere. In Lynn, the majority of testing is offered through the Lynn Community Health Center at the center’s outdoor walk-through site in the Element Care parking lot on Buffum Street. Additional testing is also offered through Health Innovations/Healthy Streets Outreach Program, which has a mobile testing van set up at Lynn English High School four times a week. Dr. Kiame Mahaniah, CEO of Lynn Community Health Center, said he was pleased that the state opted to extend its testing initiative, given the rising case numbers that have been seen since late July. “I think for Lynn, it’s great because we’ve been seeing a rising rate in the past two weeks, so it’s great we can continue offering this service,” said Mahaniah. As of Saturday, the seven-day positive test rate at the health center is 9.6 percent, which is a significant spike from July 24, when the rate was 4 to 5 percent, Mahaniah said. After July 24, the rate steadily continued to rise, increasing from 6 percent on July 25 to 8 percent on July 27, 9 percent on July 30 and then stabilizing around 10 percent over the past week-plus, Mahaniah said. Although people have taken advantage of the free testing offered through the “Stop the Spread” initiative, Mahaniah said he does not think that is leading to the recent virus surge in the city. ...
https://www.itemlive.com/2020/08/10/free-covid-testing-in-lynn-extended-into-september/LYNN — Community health organizations have been teaming up to fight Lynn’s stubbornly high rates of COVID-19. The North Shore Medical Center has partnered with the Lynn Community Health Center, the city of Lynn and Mass General Brigham to launch “Keep Cases Down,” an education initiative focused on Lynn and several other struggling cities throughout the Commonwealth. Lynn remains a hot spot for COVID-19, with 578 active cases as of Sept. 22. The initiative includes a series of PSA videos in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, educating communities about mask etiquette and the importance of social distancing. The videos are narrated by community members including Lynn’s Carlos Cappas, who works as the Chief Behavioral Health Specialist at the Lynn Community Health Center. These videos are accompanied by educational texts sent through the Patient Gateway system along with digital, social media and billboard ads. “We want to teach people to social distance, wear a mask, wash their hands, and avoid large gatherings,” said North Shore Medical Center’s community benefits manager Tina McLoughlin. These ads are targeted toward several high-risk communities, including Lynn, Chelsea, Revere, Lawrence, Hyde Park, Mattapan, Mission Hill, Roxbury, Dorchester, East Boston, and Everett. The initiative began about a month ago in response to an uptick of COVID-19 cases in these areas. “We’re trying to get as many people as possible informed about the disease,” said Cindy Steger-Wilson, director of Marketing and Communications at the Lynn Community Health Center. “And to encourage testing.” ...
https://www.itemlive.com/2020/09/23/health-groups-join-forces-to-beat-back-coronavirus/COVID-19 infection rates in Massachusetts may be down overall but they remain stubbornly high in some communities, including Lynn. To keep cases down in these hard-hit spots, North Shore Medical Center (NSMC), Lynn Community Health Center (LCHC), the City of Lynn and Mass General Brigham have collaborated on a public education and outreach campaign to increase testing and encourage residents to remain vigilant about avoiding the disease. For the past several months, NSMC has joined Lynn community partners to host a series of outreach events where residents can receive free COVID-19 testing and Care Kits containing masks, hand sanitizer, soap and information in multiple languages about avoiding COVID-19. To date more than 40,000 Care kits have been distributed to Lynn residents. NSMC is partnering with the City of Lynn to distribute an additional 15,000 kits in the upcoming weeks and with the Lynn Community Health Center to expand testing for area residents. ...
http://lynnjournal.com/2020/09/24/north-shore-medical-center-mass-general-brigham-join-lynn-city-leaders-to-fight-covid-19/LYNN — The delivery of two new trailers next week will enable the Lynn Community Health Center to continue offering outdoor COVID-19 testing this winter. The 60-foot trailers, which will be delivered to the health center’s new testing site on Buffum Street next Thursday, will replace the tents that are currently used to protect patients and staff from the elements. The move, approved by both the Lynn City Council and Off-Street Parking Commission, became necessary after the building located on their current site in the Element Care parking lot, 9 Buffum St., was sold, according to Dr. Geoffrey Pechinsky, LCHC chief medical officer. Pechinsky said that regardless of what happened with the property, the health center was planning to move to a bigger site that was more conducive to having trailers during the winter months. Fortunately, there won’t be much of an adjustment for residents, as the new site is located across the street in the Buffum Street parking lot. With the cold and flu season coupled with an anticipated second wave of COVID-19 approaching, Pechinsky said the new, expanded walk-through site — slated to open later this month — will enable the health center to test up to 500 patients a day. “We have structured our staffing and operations to meet the demand for testing as it rises and falls in the community,” said Kim Eng, LCHC chief operating officer. “We are currently conducting between 150 and 200 tests per day, but at our peak in August we conducted over 300 tests per day. We anticipate our numbers will rise again as more people return to work, combined with the onset of cooler weather and flu seasons.” ...
https://www.itemlive.com/2020/10/08/lynn-community-health-center-ready-for-covid-and-the-cold/Recent Posts
- Welcoming Two New Chief Officers to LCHC
- Introducing Drew Russo as Chair of the Board of Directors
- Lynn Families Take HealthySteps
- Bridging Care and Community: Lynn Community Health Center’s OB/GYN Services
- Lynn Community Health Center Opens School-Based Behavioral Health Center at Pickering Middle School
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