Whittier Street Health Center is pleased to announce that on February 9th, in honor of Black History Month and in recognition of the disproportionate toll the pandemic has taken on the Black community and other communities of color, the Center will be hosting all-day COVID-19 testing at its Roxbury facility, together with all-day COVID-19 vaccinations for those who meet the criteria for Phase 2 of the Commonwealth’s vaccine distribution plan.

The event has been organized in partnership with Quest Diagnostics, the world’s leading provider of diagnostic information services, which is sponsoring the vaccination tent at Whittier. Ron Coursey, Vice President for Federally Qualified Health Centers & Public Health at Quest, notes: “We are delighted to be celebrating Black History Month and the arrival of the long-awaited COVID-19 vaccine in our community with Whittier Street Health Center, one of our strongest partners. Events like this will help to show the Black and Brown communities, which have suffered the highest rates of COVID infection, that they will have equal access to the vaccine and testing. This is so important because our own company’s study  has found that Black and Hispanic/LatinX Americans are nearly twice as likely as White Americans to doubt they will enjoy full and fair access to the COVID-19 vaccine, testing and life-saving care. Our work with our FQHC partners like Whittier Street Health Center is critical to help save lives and help stop the disproportionate devastation COVID-19 is wreaking in underserved communities.”

Frederica M. Williams, President and CEO, Whittier Street Health Center, states, “We are so grateful to Ron Coursey and Quest for their strong support for our work and our patients for many years now, and especially for the past year of the pandemic. When Ron and I discussed the idea of holding this event together, we agreed that, at this moment in history for Black Americans, there is nothing more critical than building their trust and belief in the life-saving treatments and diagnostics now available to them. Whittier jumped into testing at the start of the pandemic because we knew our patients trusted us, and it was our job to overcome any fear or resistance that might cost lives. Now with the vaccine here, we need to lead by example again and also reinforce the need for ongoing testing while the vaccine roll-out gathers momentum.”
The COVID-19 testing and vaccinations at Whittier will be offered from 9 am to 4 pm on February 9th at 1290 Tremont Street. The Center will also have on hand packaged food, water and snacks from its on-site Food Pantry along with educational materials. As part of Whittier’s Annual Meeting, to be held from 12-1:30 pm, a Black History Month celebration and award presentation will be held in the Community Education Room on the 2nd floor of the Center.
For media inquiries, please contact Nicole Maxey at nicole@maxeymizepr.com.

Whittier Street Health Center is an independently licensed community health care center with a mission of providing high quality, reliable and accessible primary healthcare for diverse populations while promoting wellness and eliminating health and social disparities. A champion of equitable access to high quality, patient-focused care, social justice and economic equity, Whittier is accredited by The Joint Commission (TJC), certified by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) as a Patient-Centered Medical Home, and is recognized by the NCQA for its Behavioral Health Integration. Through its locations in Roxbury and North Dorchester, and its Mobile Health Van Program, Whittier serves nearly 30,000 patients and 20,000 community outreach visits annually; its ethnically and racially diverse patient base is primarily made up of individuals from Roxbury, Dorchester, Jamaica Plain, the South End and Greater Boston. Approximately 36% of Whittier’s patients are uninsured. Learn more at
www.wshc.org.