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Free San Antonio clinic sees 88
The Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. began offering free clinical services yesterday throughout the week in the southern area of Saipan.
In a statement, CHCC noted that it would be offering free clinical services at a satellite clinic next to the San Antonio basketball courts from 7am to 4:30pm everyday this week until Saturday, Nov. 3, 2018.
As of 4pm yesterday, the clinic has already been able to see 88 patients, according to Kaitlyn Neises, CHCC’s special assistant for policy, sustainability, and development.
The San Antonio satellite clinic works in collaboration with the Disaster Medical Assistance Team providers, with oversight and support from CHCC’s Family Care Clinic.
Services offered by the clinic include limited vaccines; triage services; first aid; limited pharmacy; urgent care; and limited public health services such as family planning.
In order to avail of the free clinical services, patients are asked to bring a form of identification and any medications they are on. Patients may also bring their empty prescription bottles or a list of their medications.
The corporation yesterday also did a medical assessment for the largest shelter populations on Saipan, the Marianas High School and the Koblerville Elementary School, which could accommodate a total of 180 shelterees.
Two teams from the corporation that were each composed of a medical doctor or medical epidemiologist, one nurse, one immunization staff, one clerk, one pharmacy technician, and one crisis counselor each visited MHS and KES yesterday to do primary assessments.
According to a statement from CHCC, they looked at MHS and KES first before addressing the others due to the larger population of the schools compared to the others.
The teams provided triage services for the medical needs of the shelterees; medical refills of chronic medications such as diabetes, hypertension, and thyroid disease, flu, tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough, and pneumonia vaccinations; and crisis counseling for the shelterees.
CHCC information officer Samantha Birmingham-Babauta noted in an email that CHCC is still currently in talks with the Public School System to identify which shelters they intend to visit next.
