Chief Medical Officer, Walid Michelin, and Executive Director, Ellen Scharaga led Council Member Gibson through the 14,000 facility, including the X-ray suite, examination rooms, care manager offices, ultrasound area, fluoroscopy and mammogram suite, cardica care area, laboratory, 3 bay infusion suite, private compunding pharmacy, dental exam suite, pediatric exam and lobby, and behavioral health area. During the walk through, Council Member Gibson remarked many times about the need for improved health care access in this area of the Bronx, “The Bronx has the highest death rate due to Covid-19, but even before Covid hit we had a lot of health disparities.”

Alegria’s Chief Outreach Officer, Miosotis Munoz, expressed the facility’s desire to help design solutions to this disparity, “We want to treat the whole community, not just the individual. We want to work with your office and other community leaders to design solutions that work for area residents.”

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“I am pleased that even before we officially open our doors, we are already able to serve the South Bronx by vaccinating residents” said Dr. Walid Michelen, Medical Doctor at Alegria Health and Wellness. “Even as we see the number of cases go down, we must remain vigilant by getting everyone vaccinated as quickly as possible, while continuing to wear masks, wash our hands and maintain a social distance.”

The $6 million medical facility has been under construction for almost three years. Once it is open, Alegria Health and Wellness will be able to serve the Bronx with a variety of medical needs including behavioral health, cardiology, primary and urgent care, and dental care.

About Alegria Health and Wellness

Alegira Health and Wellness will be serving the Bronx with access to care for both acute and chronic illnesses. A large part of the facilities goal is to increase healthcare literacy, prevention and early intervention through education and outreach. Educational events and screenings at neighborhood schools, churches, barber shops, gyms, apartment buildings, recreational centers, and parks will be built into the organizations community-centric model.

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Mille, Carlos, Sandara and Kevin stopped by for a quick tour, and to pick up some Covid-19 vaccination fliers to distribute to local residents. We are very grateful to have them as partners to help get the Bronx vaccinated!

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Despite years of polio, chickenpox and measles vaccines being required for children to go to school for decades, I would still be asked if the vaccines for them were OK. Now that schools will be open again soon and the Delta variant is infecting more New Yorkers, we have to reduce these hesitancies to get more students vaccinated before they go back into class.

Despite efforts by many elected officials and government agencies, the South Bronx still has some of the lowest vaccination rates in New York City, in addition to a positivity rate around 4%. This combination could lead to a hyper-local outbreak turning back the progress that took so long to make.

The truth is I can’t say I’m surprised. Many parents truly feel they are violating their child by putting a needle in them. For instance, despite the fact that there are many lifesaving childhood vaccines available by injection, one mother only chose to give her child the Rotavirus vaccine, because it is given orally. This decision, as a result of “needle phobia,” left her child vulnerable to many diseases that can result in severe illness or even death.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, even though children are less at risk than adults, “all children are at (some) risk of severe illness, hospitalization, or even death from a COVID-19 infection.” As children are going to camp and participating in other social activities though, we are already seeing an increase of cases in them, especially with the Delta variant.

We have already seen some outbreaks and it has been reported that up to 1.9% of all childhood cases can result in a severe case, leading to hospitalization and even the loss of life. Where COVID-19 vaccinations are low, like the South Bronx, this scenario is particularly dangerous. Theoretically, in a community with an outbreak of 10,000 COVID-19 cases in children, that could leave up to 200 children hospitalized with severe disease and risk for death.

After hundreds of millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered, we know that vaccinated parents and adolescents who live with children is the safest and most effective way to protect those who are unable to get a vaccine yet.

Since the Delta variant spreads more easily, if your child is planning on being in a classroom they are putting themselves more at risk of becoming infected, which means you and those around you can become infected too.

While those who are vaccinated are strongly protected against the Delta variant, if they become infected they may still have symptoms similar to those of a minor cold including a cough, fever or headache, in addition to a loss of smell. But those who are not vaccinated can wind up in the hospital.

Alegria Health & Wellness has been administering the vaccine as a pop-up site for months now, and one of the most common questions we get from patients coming in is about the breakthrough cases. These instances are very rare compared to all the people who have received a vaccine.

And those who are vaccinated have less of a chance of spreading COVID-19 to other people.

So if you or your children are planning on going back to school this fall, make sure they are vaccinated. It is the best way to keep yourself and fellow students safe, as well as your loved ones.

Dr. Joel Rose is pediatrician at Alegria Health and Wellness, a medical center located in the South Bronx.

This op-ed originally appeared in The Bronx Times.

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This comes at a time when cancer screenings declined over the past year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the South Bronx, where the screenings will be taking place, the average incidence of prostate cancer is 63.7% higher than the city’s overall average. Identifying prostate cancer early is important to start treatment as soon as possible, and prevent it from spreading to other parts of the body.

WHAT: Alegria Health and Wellness, Vantage Medical Group and Gramercy Surgery Center     

Representatives from each organization will be on hand for the screenings, which will be given to men over 40 years of age who have never been diagnosed with cancer before.

WHEN: Saturday, November 13, 2021

               To Provide Free Prostate Exams In The South Bronx, 10:00am – 4:00pm

WHERE: Alegria Health and Wellness

                  3475 3^rd Avenue,The Bronx, NY 10456          

Register here

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“We are very excited to be able to deliver these life saving vaccines to children” said Dr. Alexandra Gonzales, Alegria’s Health & Wellness Pediatrician. “The sooner that we administer these vaccines to youth the safer they and their families will be this holiday season.” 

Alegria Health & Wellness will also be giving tours of the medical facility to families and their children who come in to receive a vaccine. Alegria has started to treat primary care patients, pediatric and women’s health, with expanded service coming to care for all of people’s needs.

To sign up your child to receive a pediatric COVID-19 vaccine, visit www.alegriahealthbronx.com.

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This comes at a time when cancer screenings declined over the past year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the South Bronx, the average incidence of prostate cancer is 63.7% higher than New York City’s overall average. Identifying prostate cancer early is important to start treatment as soon as possible and prevent it from spreading to other parts of the body.

Also during the event, attendees received information from Exosome diagnostics on the importance of detecting prostate cancer early.

“This is just the start of the type of programs we want to offer the community” said Dr. Walid Michelen, Alegria Health & Wellness Chief Medical Officer. “By making these screenings and other types of medical treatments more accessible, we will be able to help this community live longer, healthier and happier lives.”

“Thank you, Alegria Health & Wellness, for collaborating with us to provide Prostate Cancer Screening to the South Bronx. Early detection is the key to successful treatment and cure. Vantage Medical Group looks forward to continue working with you to keeps our friends and neighbors healthy and well.” Dr. Sherman Chan of Vantage Medical Group.

“I was happy to participate in the education of men in the Bronx regarding ExoDx and Prostate cancer screening” said Julie Sands R.N. of Exosome Diagnostics. “I would like to thank all the staff at Alegria Health and Wellness for hosting such a great event.”  

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Experienced medical staff have state of the art equipment to effectively keep patients healthy

Alegria Health & Wellness, a full service medical facility based in the South Bronx, has officially begun treating patients for primary care, in addition to specialties for women and children. The state of the art facility has experienced doctors and nurses to make sure each patient receives the treatment they require, in addition to sound medical advice to keep them healthy.

“We decided to focus on these first three services for the community because it is what is needed most” said Dr. Walid Michelen, Alegria’s Chief Medical Officer. “When first planning our medical facility, and our vision for it, we chose to open in the South Bronx in order to increase the opportunities residents have to improve their health and wellbeing.”

Some of the services now being provided include disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic illnesses, mammograms, STI testing and treatment, immunizations, sick visits, and orthopedic care.

As Alegria expands its services, patients will be able to get their teeth cleaned, see a podiatrist and oncologist, as well as a behavioral health therapist. You can see all the services available on the center’s website, www.alegriahealthbronx.com.

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