AustinTalks (http://austintalks.org/tag/health/)
Free screening and linkage to care is available at the Westside Community Triage and Wellness Center (WCTWC) at 4133 W. Madison. Walk-ins are welcome, or residents can call the 24-hour crisis line at (773) 745-2610. “If people are feeling sad, depressed or hurt I urge them to take advantage of the free mental health support,” said state Rep. La Shawn Ford.
Free face coverings will be delivered as part of the “wash and wear” community mask project at two locations in Austin from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on June 25: Westside Health Authority, 5053 W. Chicago. Ave., and By The Hand Club, 415 N. Laramie.
CPS will resume meal distribution Tuesday at more than 300 school sites – including about a dozen in Austin – after a temporary one-day suspension. No grab-and-go meal sites were open on Monday due to transportation and safety challenges that were anticipate for staff that hand out the meals. CTA buses and trains were shut down Sunday night and didn’t resume operating until Monday because of weekend looting across the city that followed peaceful protests over the police killing in Minnesota of George Floyd.
West Side residents can be tested for the coronavirus at Loretto Hospital at 645 S. Central Ave.; PCC Community Wellness Center at 330 N. Lotus Ave.; and at the former Walgreens at 1606 N. Mobile Ave.
Eighty-two Austin residents have died since the pandemic hit earlier this spring, health officials said Saturday. The residents have ranged in age from 26 to 97 years old, with most deaths being of those over 60.
Austin Coming Together will be distributing the masks from 3 to 5 p.m. Thursday, April 23 at three sites in Austin: the Westside Health Authority’s youth development center at 5437 W. Division St.; By The Hand Club for Kids at 415 N. Laramie Ave.; and Assumption Greek Orthodox Church at 601 S. Central Ave.
Residents can donate homemade cloth masks at 29th Ward Ald. Chris Taliaferro’s office and several West Side churches on Tuesdays and Saturdays between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. from April 25 through May 16.
The aim of the “Mask up and Live Campaign” is to educate African Americans on the deadly impact of the coronavirus, which has killed more than 1,000 people in Illinois, and supply residents with masks.
There are programs available in Austin for people who want to continue treatment or seek help for the first time. Austin native Jerome McNutt, who’s been sober for 19 months, says he’s taking things one day at a time and encourages others to do the same. “This is a good time to get your life right.”
Four Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) in Chicago – including PCC Community Wellness Center, which operates two sites in Austin, and the Lawndale Christian Health Center – will expand testing on the West and South sides over the next several days to an additional 400 tests per day.