When the pandemic first hit, Toyin Ajayi, MD, Chief Health Officer & Co-founder of Cityblock, says her team knew, instinctively, that the patients Cityblock serves would be some of the hardest hit. Their patients are people without a financial or social safety net who live in communities where, because of poverty and racial health inequities, they experience poorer outcomes from the virus. “We want people to know that it is both possible and necessary that we serve these populations and that we do it well.” In an interview for StartUp Health NOW, Ajayi shares how Cityblock adapted and scaled their community-based health services to meet covid-specific needs, from on-demand in-home visits that follow COVID-19 safety guidelines, to one-on-one outreach to their most vulnerable members through culturally-competent telehealth visits and SMS communication.