{"id":6244,"date":"2021-05-25T14:37:55","date_gmt":"2021-05-25T14:37:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/?p=6244"},"modified":"2021-06-10T11:28:30","modified_gmt":"2021-06-10T11:28:30","slug":"the-landover-vaccine-equity-response-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/2021\/05\/25\/the-landover-vaccine-equity-response-site\/","title":{"rendered":"The Landover Vaccine Equity Response Site"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Spc. Tyrell Boyd, Maryland Public Affairs Office<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Sgt. Ashley Akaragwe, an automated logistical specialist with the 1297th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, assists with traffic in Landover, Maryland, on April 7, 2021.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After several months of planning, members from the Maryland Vaccine Equity Task Force, a community-based testing team from the Maryland Department of Health and the Maryland National Guard, opened a new testing site at the City of Praise Family Ministries in Landover, Maryland, in early April. The site had a capacity of nearly 400 COVID-19 tests per day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While this site was originally planned to only provide COVID-19 testing, it briefly provided vaccinations and is providing new treatment methods like monoclonal antibody infusion treatment, making the Landover site one of the few comprehensive COVID-19 response sites in Maryland.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Monoclonal infusions have already shown to improve recovery. The antibodies in the infusion block the virus that causes COVID-19 from attaching to cells, making it more difficult for the virus to reproduce and cause harm. Patients are able to receive this treatment shortly after they test positive for COVID-19, <\/span>before symptoms worsen, at the field site, set up by FirstCall, at the Baltimore Convention Center.<\/span> A doctor\u2019s referral is preferred but not required to receive the treatment.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Maryland Vaccine Equity Task Force aims to provide COVID-19 related medical services and assistance to under-served communities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sgt. Ashley Akaragwe, a member of the 29th Combat Aviation Brigade\u2019s 1297th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, is a Landover resident and former teacher at G. James Gholson Middle in Prince George\u2019s County, Maryland. She worked with the logistics and coordination of resources on this site since it opened.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that with testing, that vaccinations will increase, and positive tests will begin to decrease in the community,\u201d said Akaragwe who is serving the residents of her own community. \u201cI think this is a very good opportunity for me as a Soldier to actively serve.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Personnel at the site take the necessary precautions to ensure every supporting member wears the necessary personal protective equipment, are trained to provide the proper swabbing procedures of their patients, and maintain social distancing policies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe nurses [helped] train [me] and the other Soldiers after their initial briefing, they taught us all the swabbing techniques,\u201d said Spc. Rahsaan Johnson, an automated logistical specialist with the 1297th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, who enjoys working alongside Maryland Department of Health personnel. \u201cWe actually tested ourselves in their presence the first time, so they taught me a lot.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Spc. Rahsaan Johnson, automated logistical specialist with the 1297th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, controls traffic at a testing site in Landover, Maryland, on April 7, 2021.
\u201cI couldn\u2019t fathom working as a Guard member 30 minutes from my house. My grandfather, he\u2019s sick, [\u2026so] being able to have a full-time job with the Army and still being able to go at a moment\u2019s notice and rush over to the hospital to my grandfather, it means the world to me.\u201d <\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Spc. Owona Seroe, a healthcare specialist with the 729th Quartermaster Company, helps provide COVID-19 tests in Landover, Maryland, on April 7, 2021.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After several months of planning, members from the Maryland Vaccine Equity Task Force, a community-based testing team from the Maryland Department of Health and the Maryland National Guard, opened a new testing site at the City of Praise Family Ministries in Landover, Maryland, in early April. The site can provide over 400 COVID-19 tests per day.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":161,"featured_media":6247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[460,918,333,145,167],"class_list":["post-6244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-community-service","tag-covid-19","tag-health","tag-maryland-army-national-guard","tag-medicine"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6244"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6440,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6244\/revisions\/6440"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}