Our on-site workforce, who is primarily female, immigrant, and Latinx, balanced their jobs while also shouldering much of the care for their families (young, elderly, and/or ill), making resources stretch where others in the family had lost jobs, and then working at a distance from each other, with masks, restrictions on break rooms, and the ongoing fear of their own exposure. At home, in suboptimal working conditions, with constant competing interests from family, our staff stayed true to our mission and worked in tight connection with each other and with our community.

As each month passed, the intensity of the pandemic only grew; staff wellness became a significant priority. La Clínica’s own mental health department launched “Cuidar de los que nos cuidan,” a safe space, held each Friday, for staff to share their feelings and de-compress with one another. In the summer, La Clínica engaged the Hope Center for Wellness which provided a series of workshops for all staff and managers focusing on information and exercises to take care of ourselves and clients from a trauma-informed based perspective.

In the fall, as preparations were made to bring more direct services on on-site, an assessment of our DC clinical facility uncovered ventilation issues that required us to temporarily close and divert all patient appointments to our on-site in Hyattsville. Through herculean efforts on the part of our operations and support staff, the clinical floor was renovated in record time. This allowed our doors to open again, with brightly colored walls, and a safe, clean space our patients and staff were thrilled to fill.

In April, equipped and trained, staff began providing telemedicine, care coordination, medical interpretation, navigation, group support, health education, and mental health services all by virtual platforms or phone, launching La Clínica desde su Casa. Innovative use of technology and new modes of delivery (home HIV test kits, rescheduling of appointments by interpreters, phone calls to patients 60+) allowed clients to access care safely. These new modes often provided the necessary lifeline and connections to clients who had nowhere else to turn.

TESTIFYING AT PERFORMANCE AND BUDGET HEARINGS TO ADVANCE SYSTEMS CHANGE

The pandemic shined a light on the fact that policies that determine healthcare access based on immigration status are bad for public health. Over numerous occasions last year, La Clínica testified on behalf of the Latinx immigrant communities. Catalina Sol and Patient-Board member Paula Vasquez testified at DC Council to remove enrollment barriers for immigrants in the local DC Alliance health insurance program.

LANGUAGE JUSTICE AND SIMULTANEOUS INTERPRETATION

Sadly, the pandemic drove a setback in the utilization of in-person interpretation causing Limited English Proficient individuals to shoulder the burden. By fall our Language Access Task Force and La Clinica’s leadership were laying out the work to advocate for justice-informed health care for the Latino immigrant community. Catalina Sol, testified to Prince George’s County Council in favor of a bill strengthening the language access program, introduced by Councilmember Taveras.

PRINCE GEORGE’S FORWARD TASK FORCE

La Clínica’s Executive Director, Catalina Sol, was appointed County Executive, Angela Alsobrooks to join the Prince George’s Forward Task Force. The Prince George’s Task Force was made up of a group of experts and County employees working together to address the impacts of COVID-19 on all Prince Georgians to guide its path forward. As one of 12 members on the Health Recovery Subcommittee Catalina Sol participated providing ideas and recommendations towards improved health outcomes, enhancing physical, mental health, and well-being of Prince Georgians, and strengthening our infrastructure in the event of another crisis.