COVID-19 Community Update from Sierra View Medical Center

Porterville, CA – December 23, 2021

COVID-19 Safety Precautions

With the holidays here, many families will surely gather to enjoy each other’s company. As our community prepares to welcome the new year, frontline health care workers and first responders continue battling the COVID-19 pandemic, including the quickly emerging and highly infectious Omicron variant. While the health care community discovers more about the variant, it continues to be important that everyone ages 16 and older get their booster vaccine once eligible. “Primary vaccination continues to be the best line of defense. With Omicron now being the primary variant in the United States, the booster vaccination has been successful in preventing contracting Covid, but if you should get a breakthrough infection it is effective in preventing severe disease and hospitalization in studies being conducted across the country,” says Sierra View’s Chief Nursing Officer, Dr. Jeffery Hudson-Covolo, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, FACHE. “We offer a dedicated location supporting community members to easily receive the COVID-19 vaccine because we recognize that it is essential to make receiving the vaccine as convenient as possible.”

That convenience means that community members receiving the COVID-19 vaccine at the Community Vaccination Clinic located at 385 Pearson Dr. in Porterville may do so even if they do not have health insurance or a primary care provider (dedicated doctor). Immigration status also is not a factor. The clinic regularly has bilingual staff on-site to help answer the community’s questions in English and Spanish.

Tulare County Health & Human Services Agency points out that “COVID-19 vaccines continue to provide significant protection against severe illness, hospitalization, and death, and booster vaccines increase that protection. At this time the CDC recommends that the mRNA vaccines (Pfizer or Moderna) are preferred over the J & J vaccine unless there is a contraindication to the mRNA vaccine or they are not available.”

Other safety precautions community members should continue to take include:

• Wearing a face mask or covering over your nose and mouth if indoors and public settings, regardless of vaccination status. Gathering outdoors is safer than indoors and poorly ventilated settings.
• Getting tested prior to gatherings, and if you have symptoms of COVID-19 or have a close contact with someone who has COVID-19.
• If you are sick or have symptoms, don’t host or attend a gathering of any kind. Stay home if you are sick or instructed to isolate/quarantine by a medical or public health professional.

Updated 2021 Holiday Hours for Community Vaccination Clinic

Sierra View Medical Center-Imperial Ambulance’s Community Vaccination Clinic has updated holiday hours in observation of Christmas and New Year’s celebrations. Community members with a previous appointment or plan to receive a vaccine on Friday (12/24) or Saturday (12/25) may stop by the clinic on Thursday, December 23 from 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. Those with a previous appointment or plan to receive a COVID-19 vaccine on Friday (12/31/21) or Saturday (1/1/22) may stop by the clinic as of Thursday, December 30 from 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.

2021 Community Vaccination Clinic Holiday Hours

• OPEN: Thursday, December 23, 2021 (9 a.m. to 6 p.m.)
• CLOSED: Friday, December 24, 2021
• CLOSED: Saturday, December 25, 2021
• OPEN: Thursday, December 30, 2021 (9 a.m. to 6 p.m.)
• CLOSED: Friday, December 31, 2021
• CLOSED: Saturday, January 1, 2022

The SVMC-Imperial Ambulance Community Vaccination Clinic will resume regular weekly business hours of 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. on Thursdays – Saturdays on Thursday, January 6, 2021.

Available COVID-19 vaccines at the COMMUNITY VACCINATION clinic continue to be:

• Pfizer-BioNTech (1st and 2nd doses available to those 5 years and older. Boosters available to those 16 years and older.)
• Moderna (Only boosters available to those 16 years and older.)

To learn more, please visit www.sierra-view.com/COVIDvaccines. For more guidance regarding COVID-19 boosters is available from the CDC by visiting https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/booster-shot.html. To learn about the different vaccines available in the U.S., please visit https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/different-vaccines.html.

Community partner seeking to explore vaccination opportunities in partnership with Sierra View Medical Center may fill out a form of request by visiting www.sierra-view.com/CommunityVaccinationRequest. For more information, please contact SVMC Marketing & Community Relations Manager Alida Verduzco Silva (AVerduzcoSilva@sierra-view.com).

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Sierra View Medical Center (SVMC) is an integrated healthcare system located in Porterville, California, and is the health care service of the Sierra View Local Health Care District. The hospital serves the Southern Sequoia region of California’s Central Valley and is the pre-eminent health care provider in the area. The 167-bed hospital is comprised of 132 acute care beds and a distinct part skilled nursing (DP/SNF) facility with 35 beds, in addition to primary and specialty outpatient clinics. Sierra View Medical Center features the latest in stroke care and is certified by The Joint Commission as an Advanced Primary Stroke Care Center and offers specialty heart care services at the Cardiac Catheterization Lab licensed by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). SVMC provides excellent health care services in a compassionate environment where the goal is to make patients and their families feel comfortable. SVMC’s primary and specialty outpatient clinics and programs include: The Roger S. Good Cancer Treatment Center, the Urology Clinic, Wound Healing Center, Community Wellness Center, Physical Therapy, Intensivist Critical Care programs, and adult and pediatric hospitalist programs. SVMC has partnership affiliations with Valley Children’s Medical Center, Keck USC School of Medicine, and Healogics™. The hospital features a Graduate Medical Education (GME) Internal Residency Program, accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), and a Vizient/AACN Nurse Residency Program™ to cultivate and train superior community hospital-based healthcare professionals for our region and beyond.

By demonstrating compliance with The Joint Commission’s national standards for health care quality and safety, Sierra View Medical Center earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval. To learn more, please visit www.sierra-view.com. Questions? Please contact marketing@sierra-view.com. SVMC Media Kit available online: www.sierra-view.com/media-kit