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