Montebello research company continues providing COVID services

By CHRISTINA MERINO | msprague@scng.com | Whittier Daily News

PUBLISHED: April 28, 2023 at 5:40 pm. | UPDATED: April 28, 2023 at 11:35 pm.

During the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, SeraCollection Research Services in Montebello redirected its research to focus on COVID-19 and used its resources to help mitigate the pandemic and serve underserved communities.

“Immediately when the pandemic started, we had to do something,” said Monica Lopez, CEO/president and founder of SeraCollection. “We knew that we had to go into the community, especially the most vulnerable, which are children, elders and homeless communities.”

As the COVID state of emergency has ended and restrictions continue to be lifted, this Montebello-based company has not stopped its work with the community.

SeraCollection continues to provide daily COVID-19 services throughout Los Angeles County but is now offering a healthcare program for those experiencing homelessness and will soon bring on new mental health services to help address the current homelessness crisis.

Founded in 2004 by Lopez, SeraCollection Research Services primarily operates as an integrated clinical research organization that provides research for pharmaceutical and biotech development companies.

During the pandemic, it became more than just a testing and sample collection company and wants to continue being a resource to communities in Montebello and Los Angeles County.

SeraCollection services are available in mobile, pop-up, drive-through and on-site models. Their mobile clinics have made it possible for company health care workers to travel to anyone in need, making it easier to help those in homeless communities.

The mobile clinics go out every day and visit five to nine homeless sites per day, according to Manuel Cortez, director of business operations at SeraCollection.

On average, SeraCollection vaccinates 800 people per month and tests about 2,000 people, Cortez added.

The mobile clinics are equipped with different types of vaccines, which include the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccinations for ages 6 months and older, Novavax COVID-19 vaccination for 12 years and older, and Bivalent boosters. They also administer monkeypox and flu vaccines.

The company provides all these services for free when setting up at temporary or intermediate housing locations, such as Heart of Compassion Montebello Food Bank, Skid Row Refresh Spot and homeless encampments.

SeraCollection is also working with the Department of Public Health Services People Experiencing Homelessness as their exclusive mobile vaccination provider for outbreaks at homeless sites, Lopez said.

The company also provides treatments for COVID out in the field – Paxlovid and Molnupiravir are oral antiviral pills that stop the COVID-19 virus from making copies of itself in the body and avoid disease progression and hospitalization, according to Cortez.

“When they test positive for COVID, instead of telling them to just isolate, we also see if they qualify for this medication,” Cortez said.

The healthcare workers on the field see if the patients have any health risks, such as renal disease and liver disease, which could have an impact on the medication. “We really try to encourage folks to obtain the treatment and it’s free,” he said.

In partnership with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, SeraCollection distributes gift cards to those who receive their COVID-19 vaccines which gives people an incentive to show up and tell others about it in nearby homeless communities, the company’s health care workers said.

These temporary house locations encourage their residents to be up to date with their vaccines, SeraCollection uses its services to help people meet those requirements. And when new people arrive, the company returns to those locations and provides free services, Cortez said.

People experiencing homelessness are able to walk up on-site at the mobile clinics and get what they need. Soon, SeraCollection will be able to provide mental health services as well.

“As COVID is winding down a little, we want to be part of the mobilized homeless mental health medic services,” Lopez said. She hopes to partner with the mayor of Montebello, and with the city and county of Los Angeles to provide these services wherever needed.

“We feel that we’ve already proven the concept and we made it work,” she said about the work already done by the company with homeless communities, “and we know that we can go out there and help.”

The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority reported in 2020 that about 25% of all homeless adults in Los Angeles County suffer from severe mental illnesses such as a psychotic disorders and schizophrenia. A 2022 study by the RAND Institute found that 54% of unhoused Angelenos reported having a mental health condition.

“We feel that providing mental health services will provide a transition to additional health care, as well as housing services because until we can address their mental health needs, they’re not going to move from A to B,” Cortez said, “they’re more likely to stay in their current situation.”

The mental health services will include having a professional therapist or telehealth option on the mobile clinic teams when going out to sites, providing resources, and more.

SeraCollection continues to work on its core business of research, such as live virus samples collection and clinical trials for babies and adolescents for Moderna, Cortez said. Its COVID treatment center in Montebello, at 1300 W. Beverly Blvd, is also open to the community to make appointments or walk in to get vaccines, testing or treatment.

SeraCollection also wants to continue tackling the needs of unhoused folks, which include mental health issues.

“It’s another crisis that we have to tackle and affects our community,” Lopez said. “We want to be out there to help.”

For more information about services, call 888-788-3994 or visit seracollection.com.

Montebello business went from clinical research to testing, vaccinations for COVID

By MIKE SPRAGUE | msprague@scng.com | Whittier Daily News

PUBLISHED: August 17, 2022 at 12:21 p.m. | UPDATED: August 17, 2022 at 10:12 p.m.

When SeraCollection Research Service was founded in 2004 by Monica Lopez, Sera provided testing, vaccinations and clinical research for communicable disease.

But it all changed for this Montebello-based company of 120 employees, when COVID-19 hit in 2020, company officials said. And now 80% of its business is in providing COVID-19 vaccination and testing services in communities, companies and schools, including for a while Los Angeles Unified School District. Services include mobile, pop-up, drive through and on-site models.

The company also provides vaccinations — 180,000 since May 2021 — for free.

This week and next week, the company will be providing free vaccinations in Pico Rivera and Los Angeles.

For SeraCollection Research Services, its presence at the Summer Street Festival from 5 10 p.m. Friday, Aug. 19 at Smith Park, 6016 Rosemead Blvd., Pico Rivera, and from 9 a.m. to noon at Hilda L. Solis carefirst Village, 1000 Alhambra Ave., Los Angeles, is an example of how COVID changed its business model.

The change began with the pandemic, SeraCollection officials said.

“We went from a core business of clinical research and testing to a crisis,” said Fernando Perez, chief financial officer for Sera.

Our clinical research and testing came to a stop because of COVID,” Perez said. “Offices were closing because of safety measures and we couldn’t get patients.”

For a while, its own staff couldn’t go to work, he said. But soon Sera began imposing its safety protocols allowing staff to return to work.

The company also had relationships with Moderna and Pfizer and began doing work for them.

“We drew up new protocols to get samples of blood, saliva and urine so we could help companies develop tests for COVID,” Lopez, the founder and chief executive officer for Sera, said.

This is not new for companies like Sera, Lopez said.

“When a new disease comes up, everything you were working on stops and everyone begins working on the new emerging problem,” she said.

In the case of COVID, Sera also has become more than just a testing and sampling company.

Sera offers testing and vaccination for free in partnership with the California Department of Public Health to help mitigate this pandemic and serve underserved communities, Manuel Cortez, director of operations, said.

“I encourage our local community parents to choose vaccinations for their children,” Lopez said in an emailed release.

“We have certainly seen some children become very ill due to the virus and we also know they can spread COVID-19 to others who may be especially vulnerable to the virus and its effects,” she wrote.

Sera also continues to work on its core business of sampling, such as doing clinical trials for children for Moderna, Cortez said.

For example, the company is now going to work on providing monkeypox vaccinations to the community.

Working with the county, the company expects to begin distributing a vaccination this week in high-risk areas, Cortez said.

SeraCollection Now Offering COVID19 Vaccinations For Ages 6 Months & Up

Los Angeles, CA- SeraCollection Research Services, a woman-owned business and certified leader in testing, vaccinations and clinical research is now offering infant and toddler COVID-19 vaccinations for children 6 months and older.

Backed by the Department of Public Health and with proven expertise and experience, Sera Collection will be offering Pfizer vaccinations for ages 6 months to 4 years old and Moderna vaccinations for ages 6 months to 5 years old, as June 21, 2022.

As a local leader in research and a current research site for multiple Covid-19 pediatric vaccine clinical trials, SeraCollection officials strongly recommends the vaccinations and points to the FDA authorization and the new CDC recommendations and noted that millions of older children have been safely vaccinated across the United States. 

The vaccines are available for both children and adults at no cost at the two SeraCollection office locations and mobile vaccinations sites. 

Since the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Sera Collection continues to respond and remains committed to helping the local community protect themselves from the potentially fatal effects of contracting the COVID-19 Virus. Monica Lopez, Founder, CEO and President of SeraCollection encourages parents to protect their infants and toddlers with the available vaccines. “I encourage our local community parents to choose vaccinations for their children. We have certainly seen some children become very ill due to the virus and we also know they can spread COVID-19 to others who may be especially vulnerable to the virus and its effects.”

The vaccinations will be offered at two SeraCollection Vaccine Clinics in Montebello. The two locations are both on Beverly Blvd at 1300 and 3317 W. Beverly Blvd., Montebello, CA 90640. The community-minded company also provides mobile, on-site testing and vaccinations units and provides qualified nurses for testing and vaccinations at companies, schools, senior centers, events, and public centers throughout Los Angeles County.

With headquarters in Montebello, California and founded in 2004, SeraCollection Research Services serves as a research institute and consulting organization for Pharmaceutical, Diagnostic Bio-Industry, Principal Investigators, Urgent Care facilities and Corporations. 

For more information or to arrange for a mobile vaccinations unit, or to schedule an appointment, please call (323) 321-6700 or visit our website at: www.seracollection.com