Covid vaccine clinics to open in Guerneville and Sebastopol

Update

Sebastopol City Councilmember Diana Rich emailed Sebastopol constituents on Friday, Feb. 5 informing citizens that West County Health Centers will open appointments to West County residents 70 and over on Monday Feb 8. and to residents 65 and over on Thursday, Feb. 15.

“Accurate! Confirmed by Lynda Hopkins personally to me just now.” Rich wrote in an email.

According to Rich, there are open appointments on Feb 11 (for 70 and over) at Guerneville School. Note that each Wednesday WCHC opens up new appointments for the following week. Book an appointment here.

Remember, the community vaccination clinics are established by West County Health Centers (WCHC) for residents who live, work, or whose primary care medical home is in western Sonoma County.

In partnership with the Sonoma County Department of Health Services, Sonoma County Office of Education, 5th District Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, and other community leaders, West County Health Centers will open two community vaccination sites in western Sonoma County, one located at Guerneville Elementary School and the other at Analy High School in Sebastopol. WCHC will be following the tiered system of distribution as put forth by state and federal guidelines. For information on the tiers, please visit the Sonoma County Emergency Services page.

West County Health Centers’ goal is to offer as many vaccinations as possible, depending on available supply. Timing of sites and how many appointments are available for each day will depend on the weekly vaccine distribution from the County.

“With our dedicated WCHC staff, volunteers, and community partners we plan to open our community vaccination sites with a goal to optimize our resources to deliver the maximum rate of vaccinations per day/hour possible,” WCHC leaders said in a press release.

Currently the center is scheduling WCHC patients who are 75 and older through PrepMod the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) vaccine registration and appointment scheduling system. Due to the constraints of vaccine distribution, verification of eligibility and proof of western Sonoma County residency are required. COVID-19 mass vaccination sites along the highway 101 corridor are anticipated to be available to residents of Sonoma County in the future. West County Health Centers and its community partners are committed to an equitable distribution of no cost COVID-19 vaccines to our rural communities, including the county’s most vulnerable and marginalized populations.

West County Health Centers remains the sole provider of primary medical services for the unincorporated areas of western Sonoma County and one of the few providers of dental and behavioral health services available to Medi-Cal recipients. For over 45 years West County Health Centers has provided health care services to the entire community including those who are not accepted elsewhere due to HIV/AIDS, homelessness, mental illness, or addiction; those in the community who lack the financial resources to pay for quality health care, as well as many others including medically vulnerable and underserved seniors, working families, and teens. No patient is turned away from West County Health Centers for lack of funds.

Read about vaccine availability here -->

West County Health Centers is accepting donations from people who want to help support our efforts to provide COVID-19 community vaccination clinics and patient care. Please visit https://www.wchealth.org/help/donations/ to donate online or checks may be mailed to: West County Health Centers, PO BOX 1449, Guerneville, CA 95446

Ensuring the sustainability of West County Health Centers and safeguarding access to primary medical care, dental and integrated behavioral health services has become even more critical in western Sonoma County as we continue to face a global pandemic in the wake of recovery from numerous federally declared natural disasters.

West County Health Centers is a private, non-profit Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) serving 15,000 patients in western Sonoma County with (7) sites located in Guerneville, Occidental, Sebastopol, and Forestville. West County Health Centers service area covers 750 square miles stretching from Fort Ross to Valley Ford and from the Pacific coastline into Sebastopol, with an estimated population of 60,000 people.