2020—the year of the pandemic—has been a year like no other.
Our patients have been hit hard. Decades of health care disparities, social inequities, and racial injustice have been laid bare by COVID-19. We have engaged sincerely and as completely as we can imagine.
As most in-person health care services ground to a halt last spring, LCHC stayed open and provided emergency care in all our service lines. We established a respiratory care clinic for Covid-19 triage. We took the lead in testing and to date have conducted more than 38,000 COVID tests at our Walk-Through Testing Site.
A rapid pivot to telemedicine allowed us to continue to offer routine care for patients, particularly in Behavioral Healthcare. We ensured patients were treated before their condition became serious. We kept emergency rooms from becoming overloaded. We protected the hospitals. We have proudly partnered with the City of Lynn’s Public Health Department to defend our community.
We are deeply indebted to the outpouring of support, emotionally and financially, that our community has provided the health center during this time. You helped us fulfill our mission to remove barriers to care for all and to treat all with dignity. You helped us keep our doors open. You gave us hope. On behalf of all we serve, I express my deepest gratitude.
I am asking for more. The next year will bring significant pain and hardship to our community, even if a vaccine becomes widely available.
Today one third of our 42,000 patients are food insecure and one third are on the verge of eviction. Many have lost jobs or are working reduced hours. Many have lost health insurance coverage. The economic downturn will be long and deep for communities like ours. The pain is here and it is real.
In the face of this enormous need, Lynn Community Health Center’s financial future is not clear. Our expenses have skyrocketed due to the need to purchase PPE, new technologies and to outfit and staff one of the state’s largest COVID testing sites. We now remain open seven days a week to keep up with demand. At the same time our revenue is down due to the limited number of in-person visits we are able to offer each day due to COVID-19 capacity restrictions. Some volume is being made up through telemedicine, but full reimbursement for these visits is not guaranteed to be extended past March of 2021. Other uncertainties about funding loom on the horizon. This is a tough way to plan and run a health care institution.
What is clear is the critical role Lynn Community Health Center has played protecting our patients and our community during this public health crisis. What is clear is that to continue fulfilling our mission we need to be at full strength.
Please consider a generous gift before the end of the year. With your help we will keep our doors open wide and continue to meet the disparities, inequities, and injustice that amplifies the impact of COVID-19 on our community. We need you. The community needs you. Let us all hope for a vaccine and a better 2021.
Sincerely,
Kiame Mahaniah, MD
Chief Executive Officer
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