Within days of the first COVID-19 cases in Michigan, Wayne Health, partnering with Wayne State University Health Sciences and ACCESS, launched the area’s first, high-throughput, drive-through COVID-19 testing program for symptomatic health care workers and first responders.
Since then, Wayne Health providers and partnering organizations have continued to step up to fill gaps in the community’s response to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic by:
- Launching the first mobile COVID-19 testing service in Michigan through a collaboration with WSU, ACCESS and Ford Motor Co. Using vehicles donated and equipped by Ford, staffed by clinicians from Wayne Health and WSU and administratively supported by ACCESS, the mobile program had tested nearly 15,000 individuals at 114 community sites as of Sept. 1, 2020.
- Initiating a virtual COVID Care Clinic for patients in home isolation or requiring follow-up care after hospitalization for COVID-19, to guide them on the road to recovery
- Providing COVID testing for symptomatic homeless people in Detroit
- Offering free mental health support through a “Warriors Strong Together” telehealth program for first responders on the front lines of COVID response and their families – and for WSU students, faculty, staff and Wayne Health providers and staff
- Providing start-up funding for the purchase of laboratory equipment to accelerate COVID test results for Detroit Medical Center hospital patients
These COVID-19 initiatives reflect Wayne Health’s longstanding history of caring for vulnerable and high-risk populations in metropolitan Detroit and demonstrate the power of partnerships in addressing community health needs.