National Public Health Week – Building Healthy Communities in Austin and Across the Nation
4 Minutes
Team Curative
Apr 8, 2022
The 2022 National Public Health Week theme is “Public Health is Where You Are.” This theme is close to Curative’s heart as we started with the intention of making public health accessible and equitable. Since our inception in 2020, we have brought convenient diagnostic services to communities across the country, meeting their healthcare needs in a time of crisis. Along the way, we partnered with non-profit organizations, local governments, businesses, and schools to bring healthcare to underserved communities.
In celebration of National Public Health Week, we are spotlighting our work in one of the communities we serve — Austin, Texas. The lessons learned from communities like Austin have been applied across the country, in over 40 states and thousands of COVID-19 test sites.
Curative’s COVID-19 Testing Site at Lake Travis School District in Austin, Texas
In December 2017, the city of Austin, Texas released a Community Health Assessment, which detailed the city’s plan to improve public health. Of the eight major themes identified, inequity in socioeconomic levels and health impact, healthcare access and affordability, and transportation were key areas to improve.
When Curative partnered with local organizations, along with the City of Georgetown and a number of schools, our goal was to work alongside our partners to improve access to services. We identified areas that needed additional resources and deployed services strategically. As Austin continues to grow, many Austin areas on the outskirts of the city lack transportation to large health hubs. This disparity in access to services is also disproportionately affecting minority residents.
“Curative was particularly helpful in providing services to those who struggle to access care. Through our partnership with counties and communities in greater Austin, hundreds of older adults in independent living and senior housing received their COVID-19 vaccine that would have otherwise been very delayed or not given at all.* For anyone who needed a COVID test, we had multiple locations across the county. We helped lower the spread with an easy step-by-step system to identify medical need, register, and secure appointments”, says Terra Williams, Director of Growth for the Austin region.
Some of our highest-trafficked sites in the area include a kiosk at Lake Travis School District, a COVID-19 testing trailer at Lakehills Plaza, a kiosk at the Round Rock School District, a kiosk at Parmer Crossing, and a trailer in Georgetown, just north of Austin. Partnerships with schools, in high-trafficked community areas, helped Austin combat the omicron surge to conduct medically necessary diagnostic testing and ensure that schools could remain open.
The above chart represents the volume of COVID-19 samples collected at the height of the omicron surge in Winter 2021.
We are honored to be a part of the Austin community, and we are eager to continue to work with our partners in the area to help the city accomplish its public health goals. “When faced with tough and uncertain times, Central Texas communities like Austin came together to support one another like we’ve never seen before. It’s great to be a part of a communal group of people who are passionate about protecting and supporting public health in the Central Texas region,” says Cody Abney, regional field operations manager and Central Texas native.
*Curative no longer manages COVID-19 vaccination services.
Curative has zero-tolerance for any discrimination and will continue to focus on increasing healthcare access for the most vulnerable among us.
Any opinions are those of the employees interviewed in their personal capacity and do not necessarily reflect the views of Curative Inc.
