This Doctor’s Bringing Free COVID-19 Testing And Telehealth Services To Underserved Communities

Decades ago, Dr. Nana Afoh-Manin watched her mom, a single mother and immigrant from Ghana, transform their Los Angeles home into a makeshift care and learning center.



Dr. Nana Afoh-Manin, founder of myCovidMD, meets with her team of medical volunteers.

Her mother has since passed away from cervical cancer—one of the very reasons why Afoh-Manin wanted to become a doctor in the first place. But her mother’s spirit lives on in her daughter, who’s doing her own part to give back to the community during the coronavirus pandemic by creating myCovidMD, a free testing and telehealth services platform.

That platform prioritizes residents in underserved communities who are affected by the pandemic. A much needed service considering coronavirus has been disproportionately affecting black and brown communities across the U.S., in part because of a lack of healthcare resources.

“You see these signs from doctors all around the nation saying ‘stay home and keep safe’ but there are people who don't have homes,” says Nana Afoh-Manin. “People say ‘go see your doctor’ but there are people that only go to the ER because they don't have doctors.”

MyCovidMD launched on March 2, and was founded by Afoh-Manin with doctors Briana DeCuir and Joanne Moreau, Emerge Telemedicine and the Shared Harvest Fund (a social impact digital platform founded by Afoh-Manin in 2017). It offers virtual health assessments and home wellness visits for those in need of care.

But its biggest initiative has been pop-up drive-thru testing centers, where anyone can stop by for a COVID-19 serology test, regardless of if they’re exhibiting symptoms. Afoh-Manin chose serology testing because, “even though it’s not perfect,” it informs patients of their likelihood of having the infection and the presence of antibodies that indicate whether or not they have an immune response to the virus.

“In order to make sure we cast marginalized people, we show up where they are,” says Afoh-Manin. ‘We’re going to urban communities, to churches, co-working spaces and parking lots.”

That includes spaces like Blackbird House and Jefferson Warehouse in Culver City, CA and York College in Queens, NY. Testing sites in other cities including Oakland, Detroit and Houston are on the way.

The more than 3,000 medical professionals that offer their time and services for myCovidMD do so on a volunteer basis. They also help keep the testing environment fun and uplifting rather than sterile and scary. Patients waiting from their cars are greeted with music playing from a DJ and friendly, approachable staff, Afoh-Manin says.

“They're not like wearing guns or looking like the National Guard,” she adds. “They're energetic and ready to help you in full PPE, but not that scary PPE. Our goal is to decrease anxiety and quell fears, and focus on how to help make people feel better. The mental health piece of that is very important to us.”



A medical volunteer helps a patient at a drive-thru testing site.

Right now prospective patients can access available testing sites or sign up for one-on-one care via the website, but a myCovidMD app is also on the way. The platform has serviced more than 1,000 patients so far, but its goal is to deliver 10,000 COVID-19 rapid tests and 50,000 live and video-assisted COVID-19 telehealth screenings.

Ambitious? Yes, but Afoh-Manin is up for the challenge, especially after witnessing her mother successfully build up a child care initiative decades ago with less help and fewer resources.

“Everyone has something to contribute to the world, but no one's more important than anybody else,” says Afoh-Manin. “I grew up learning that.”

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