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Two Local Hospitals Join Forces For New COVID-19 Center In East Winston

Novant Health and Wake Forest Baptist are working together to provide COVID-19 screening services and testing at respiratory assessment centers in the Winston-Salem area. Image courtesy: Novant Health

Two Winston-Salem hospitals are partnering to provide a new center that aims to reduce health care barriers for patients experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. It officially opened Friday in one of the city's underserved communities.

Last year, Novant Health and Wake Forest Baptist opened the Highland Avenue Primary Care Clinic. It's a low-cost clinic located in a building owned by Forsyth County. The goal is to help expand access to primary care for people who live in the East Winston area.

Part of that mission is the creation of a new respiratory assessment center at the site. It will treat and test patients experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. No referrals or appointments are required.

Novant's Dr. Travis Howell says they're working with local health officials to get a better understanding of the community's needs.

”It's easy to see that that's a place that we need to be because there's simply not enough testing going on there, so we don't really understand the true impact of the disease and we won't understand that if we are asking people to come to us. We have to go to that community,” says Howell.

The respiratory assessment center on Highland Avenue will be open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Howell says both hospitals also have joined together to provide three additional centers in the city:

· Novant Health Adult Primary Care – Waughtown. Located at 656 East Monmouth St., the center is open Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

· Novant Health Screening Center – Highland Oaks. Located at 600 Highland Oaks Dr., the center is open 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.

· Wake Forest Baptist Health Family Medicine and Internal Medicine – Peace Haven. Located at 1930 N. Peace Haven Rd., the center is open Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Follow WFDD's Keri Brown on Twitter @kerib_news

Keri Brown is a multi-award winning reporter and host at 88.5 WFDD. She has been honored with two regional Edward R. Murrow awards for her stories about coal ash, and was named the 2015 radio reporter of the year by the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas (RTDNAC).Although she covers a variety of topics, her beats are environmental and education reporting.Keri comes to the Triad from West Virginia Public Broadcasting, where she served as the Chief Bureau Reporter for the Northern Panhandle. She produced stories for the state's Public Television and Radio programs and was honored by the West Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters Association for her feature and enterprise reporting.She also served as an adjunct instructor at Wheeling Jesuit University and Bethany College in West Virginia. She worked with the Center for Educational Technologies in Wheeling, WV, and other NASA centers across the country to develop several stories about the use of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts in the classroom.Keri's journalism career began at WTRF-TV 7 in Wheeling. She worked in several roles at the station, including the head assignment editor. She also was a field producer and assignment manager at WPGH-TV Fox 53 in Pittsburgh.Keri is a graduate of Ohio University. When she's not in the studio or working on a story, she enjoys watching college football with her family, cooking, and traveling.Keri is always looking for another great story idea, so please share them with her. You can follow her on Twitter @kerib_news.

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