Queens COVID-19 Center of Excellence to treat
recovering patients opens in Jackson Heights
Mayor Bill de Blasio cuts the ribbon to open a new COVID-19 Center of Excellence in Jackson Heights on Feb. 24.
Photo courtesy of Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Offi ce
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.10 COM | MARCH 5-MARCH 11, 2021
been tested for COVID-19 have been
positive for the virus, according to
NYC Department of Health and Mental
Hygiene data.
Ramos, who represents Jackson
Heights and Elmhurst in Senate District
13, said that although her district
was at the heart of the epicenter at the
height of pandemic, they are still at
the heart of the epicenter of a “different
pandemic: an eviction pandemic, a
food insecurity pandemic.”
Ramos called on Gov. Andrew Cuomo
to release the city’s “fair share” of
vaccines in order to push forward the
city’s recovery.
“The city is doing its job of opening
centers where we’ve been hardest hit,”
Ramos said, adding that it’s still not
enough.
“We need the vaccines so that we’re
at full capacity, vaccinating our seniors
and every single essential worker as
all of us New Yorkers start becoming
eligible — this is the only way we can
fight this virus. But this clinic today
is about forward-thinking, and that’s
exactly what we need to be doing,” she
said. “We need to get to figure out what
the long-term effects of this virus will
be on the human body and on communities
just like ours.”
The Jackson Heights health clinic
is the second of three that has opened,
following de Blasio and the Taskforce
on Racial Inclusion & Equity’s announcement
that the new facilities
would open in Bushwick, Jackson
Heights and Tremont — neighborhoods
with majority communities of
color that have been hardest-hit by the
pandemic.
Patients can be referred to the
Queens COVID-19 Center of Excellence
after a hospital visit or through
their primary care provider to receive
short- and long-term care and address
their recovery from COVID-19. The
clinic will not require positive COVID-
19 test results, antibody or not, for individuals
to receive care at this site.
The Queens COVID-19 Center of
Excellence — also referred to as NYC
Health + Hospitals/Gotham Health,
Roosevelt — will be open six days a
week: on Mondays from 8:30 a.m. to 7
p.m.; Tuesdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.;
Wednesdays from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.;
Thursdays from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.;
Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and
Saturdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
NYC Health + Hospitals/Gotham
Health opened the COVID-19 Center
of Excellence in the Tremont section
of the Bronx in November 2020, which
has since seen more than 600 unique
patients with hundreds of specialty
care referrals.
The Brooklyn Center of Excellence
is scheduled to open in March 2021.
To learn more about the centers,
visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org/
covid-19-center-of-excellence or call
844-692-4692 to make an appointment.
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
A COVID-19 Center of Excellence,
a community health clinic that will
provide comprehensive short- and
long-term care for recovering COVID
patients, opened in Jackson Heights
on Monday, March 1.
The new facility, located at 37-
50 72nd St., is designed to meet the
unique needs of patients recovering
from COVID-19, including specialized
services like pulmonary and
cardiology care, radiology and diagnostic
services, as well as mental
health services.
The 26,000-square-foot community
health clinic will house 20 exam
rooms and a digital imaging suite. It
will also offer comprehensive primary
care health services for Queens residents,
including cancer screenings,
dental and vision care, diabetes management,
podiatry, adult medicine, pediatrics
and much more.
On Feb. 24, Mayor Bill de Blasio
and NYC Health+Hospitals/Gotham
Health announced the opening with
a celebratory ribbon cutting. At the
health clinic, he was joined by state
Senator Jessica Ramos, Senior Vice
President for Ambulatory Care at NYC
Health + Hospitals Ted Long and Make
the Road New York Senior Community
Health Worker Carmen Garcia.
In his remarks, de Blasio said the
city needs to change where their resources
go every day, as people of color
“bore the brunt” while billionaires got
richer during the ongoing pandemic.
“We have to redistribute resources
to the communities hardest hit, and
not just in the middle of the crisis,
but after the worst is over — that does
not mean the crisis doesn’t continue
to live in the community, in people’s
homes and people’s families. And this
is what we’ve learned about COVID,”
said de Blasio during the opening.
“We all know we’ll be feeling the economic
effect for years, but what about
the health effect itself? What about the
fact that we now know COVID doesn’t
just walk away, leave your body? For
some people, it lingers in very painful,
challenging ways. That’s why we have
these centers of excellence. To do the
work, to do the research, to work with
the community, to identify the trends,
to provide the support, to not leave
people behind.”
COVID-19 has disproportionately
impacted communities of color, with
Black and Latin New Yorkers dying
at around twice the rate of their white
counterparts when adjusted for age.
In sections of Jackson Heights,
about 37 percent of people who have
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