Catalyst - FALL 2021 VOL 4 NO 2 | Page 16

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ISSUE NUMBER 2 / OCTOBER 2021

Then, one part of my building was not being used. Now, It's a warehouse for food that's culturally appropriate because they were going to the food banks, but it wasn't always the kind of food they ate. So now we have beans, we have tortillas, we have salsa. And if you're undocumented and you only speak Spanish, or you're not comfortable with going to some of the other places, we can see you. Not only when we see you to get food and utility assistance, we're going to also encourage you to get COVID-19 testing and get a shot, because we've also partnered with the Health Department, and once a month we provide clinics that are culturally oriented. We also provide eyeglasses for free - we've partnered with a company called New Eyes. All I need is a script and our free clinics will give you an eye exam, and there are also free dental clinics.

Are there any projects you have coming up in the next few months that you’re excited about?

Since we partner with the Health Department, I am really lobbying the mayor to take mobile units with the COVID vaccine to where the people are. To the beauty parlors, to the barbershop, to the ballpark. Also, in Savannah, we're right on the state line between South Carolina. South Carolina has the highest COVID infection rate in the country. We're working with some volunteers in medicine clinics over there to get across that bridge. So that, those are my two biggest things, mobile clinics, and getting across that bridge.

We couldn't do this without funding like Healthcare Georgia Foundation provides, they have been there every step of the way. I just love my buddies at SIRUM because it just kind of happened. Before I moved into this position, I was looking around to see how we could better serve our clients because we couldn't always get everything from the drug companies. I came across an article (about SIRUM) it's been a good partnership, an informal one, but it's a good one.

Things just kind of seemed to fall into place. If there's something out there that we can provide for our clients in addition to just the medicine, we try to do it.

To learn more about MedBank Foundation, visit

www.medbank.org