FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM MARCH 4, 2021 • THE QUEENS COURIER 3
COVID-19 Center of Excellence opens in Jackson Heights
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
aacevedo@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
A COVID-19 Center of Excellence, a
community health clinic that will provide
comprehensive short- and long-term care
for recovering COVID patients, is opening
in Jackson Heights on March 1.
Th e 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.
Th e 26,000-square-foot community
health clinic will house 20 exam rooms
and a digital imaging suite. It will also
off er 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 aft er 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 eff ect for years, but what about
the health eff ect 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. Th at’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 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 “diff erent 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.
“Th e 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 fi ght this virus.
But this clinic today is about forwardthinking,
and that’s exactly what we need
to be doing,” she said. “We need to get to
fi gure out what the long-term eff ects of
this virus will be on the human body and
on communities just like ours.”
Th e 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 aft er
a hospital visit or through their primary
care provider to receive short- and
Photo courtesy of Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Offi ce
long-term care and address their recovery
from COVID-19. Th e clinic will not
require positive COVID-19 test results,
antibody or not, for individuals to receive
care at this site.
Th e 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.; Th ursdays 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.
Th e 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.
Glen Oaks resident arrested for
alleged role in Jan. 6 Capitol riot
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com
@jenna_bagcal
Th e FBI on Monday, Feb. 22, arrested a
Glen Oaks man and Republican District
Leader for allegedly taking part in the
Jan. 6 Capitol riot, according to federal
prosecutors.
Prosecutors say that two witnesses
identifi ed 46-year-old Philip Grillo from
CNN footage, which showed him participating
in the riots wearing a jacket from
the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal
organization.
Grillo is alleged to have knowingly
entered and remained on federal
grounds without authority and attempted
to impede or disrupt the orderly conduct
of government business.
Th e Queens Daily Eagle reported
that Grillo, a former District 24 City
Council candidate and self-proclaimed
“Republican Messiah,” was arrested at
his girlfriend’s home in Glen Oaks on
Feb. 22.
Back in January, the FBI worked with
two witnesses who called into a federal
tip line saying they recognized
Grillo from “growing up with him” in
Glen Oaks. While the
fi rst anonymous tipster
called his Knights
of Columbus jacket
to attention, the second
witness said that she
was able to identify Grillo
solely by his face.
Surveillance footage allegedly
showed a man fi tting
Grillo’s description climbing
into the Capitol
from a brok
e n
window
while holding a red megaphone.
Once inside the building,
screenshots from the
CCTV footage show Grillo in
multiple instances, surrounded
by other insurrectionists
who were yelling “fi ght
for Trump” and recording
himself on a cellphone.
On social media, Grillo
expressed his support for
former President Donald
Trump, including a photo
of marked ballot, which is
illegal in New York state.
Photo via Facebook
Philip Grillo
Mayor Bill de Blasio cuts the ribbon to open a new COVID-19 Center of Excellence in Jackson Heights on Feb. 24.
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