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June 10, 2020

Neighborhood Health Center Receives Emergency Grant from Direct Relief

Mission Neighborhood Health Center Receives Emergency Grant from Direct Relief to Bolster the Healthcare Safety Net in the Communities of the Mission and Excelsior in San Francisco

Mission Neighborhood Health Center (MNHC) today announced an infusion of $50,000 in emergency grant funding from the medical aid organization Direct Relief, in partnership with the National Association of Community Health Centers.

MNHC was among 518 federally qualified health centers (FQHC) to receive funding this week through Direct Relief’s $25 million Covid-19 Fund for Community Health, which recognizes the profound effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the finances, services, staff, and patients of community health centers.

MNHC has determined to use the funds in a few areas of need. These areas are: Covid-19 testing, Pharmacy outreach, and keep the facility safe post shelter-in-place.

MNHC is hiring more nurses to increase our efforts to screen and test for Covid-19. Additionally, these funds will provide the financial backing to our existing Pharmacy initiative which consists of delivering medication to our most vulnerable patients. And lastly, these funds will also supplement our resumption of service strategy which emphasizes the staggering of patient visits to reduce risk of contagion to our staff and other patients.

“Access to primary care is what keeps people healthy and out of the hospital, and the frontline work of MNHC and other nonprofit community health centers across the U.S. is more critical than ever with the onset of Covid-19,” said Direct Relief President and CEO Thomas Tighe. “Direct Relief is doing everything possible to bolster the work and support the staffs at the safety-net health facilities on which so many patients and their families rely for excellent care and trust for advice in this public health emergency.”

Nearly 30 million (1 in 12) of the country’s most vulnerable residents — including 1 in 3 individuals living in poverty, 1 in 5 Medicaid beneficiaries, and 1 in 9 children — rely on federally qualified health centers like MNHC for their health care. That number is expected to rise as more people lose employer-sponsored insurance.

“We are grateful for this critical and immediate support as Community Health Centers work hard to keep communities safe during an unprecedented pandemic,” said Tom Van Coverden, President & CEO of the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC). “We are also deeply appreciative of our longstanding partnership with Direct Relief in these uncertain times and their efforts to ensure that health centers confronting multiple challenges in underserved communities have the resources when and where they need them. We know that many donors and contributors have helped to make this fund possible, and we further extend our appreciation to all of them.”

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About Mission Neighborhood Health Center: Since its establishment in 1967, Mission Neighborhood Health Center has provided the low-income Latino community of San Francisco with culturally relevant primary health care. We advocate for health equity and deliver innovative high quality services responsive to the neighborhoods and diverse communities we serve.

From our humble beginnings of providing much needed services in a trailer outside our Shotwell site parking lot, we have grown into a health center serving over 12,600 patients each year at three clinical sites that provide an array of medical including behavioral health and dental services covering the patient lifecycle.

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