SWLA Center for Health Services continues service despite damages

LAKE CHARLES, La. (Great Health Divide) - Right after Hurricane Laura, Southwest Louisiana Center for Health Services continued to provide services despite sustaining damage of its own.

CEO JayVon Muhammad says they’ve gotten creative to still continue to provide services.

“With Hurricane Laura, in which we lost about 30 thousand square feet of space here, including the entire medical side of the building and the entire behavioral health building Our lab is now housed in a dental operatory, and behavioral health may be in a room that it wasn’t in before, an interesting room. But we are using the spaces that we have to make sure all of our patients are cared for.”

It hasn’t been easy.

“We’re struggling. We’re still continuing to provide our core services but we’re having to be very creative to get that done, so as we move forward, and things feel a little more normal. As we move forward, and things feel a little more normal, and as people are able to schedule their dental appointment and they’re able to see their provider for medical and behavioral health, remember that we’re still suffering and looking at millions of dollars of damage.”

The timeline for construction is still a while away.

“As we work with our architects and contractors, to talk about what the building will look like as we move forward. That’s looking like 2021. And early 2022, is the time that we think we’ll be in the active rebuilding phase and preparing to open the new SWLA Center for Health Services.”

They are however trying their best to be a center for health services in their community, even offering vaccines in the near future.

“SWLA Center for Health Services has done everything that we are required to do in order to become a vaccination site for the COVID-19 vaccine, so we are patiently waiting for our first shipment of vaccines.”

On Wednesday, they are opening temporary buildings with 8 new exam rooms to expand current services for the time being.

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