2021 DPSS Annual Report Online_FINAL

Annual Report 2020/2021

Administrative Services

DPSS employee Juanita Irvin. Welfare Fraud Investigative Technician Leads County’s Mobile COVID-19 Vaccination Clinics

When the department asked staff to volunteer to support Riverside County’s COVID-19 vaccination effort in early 2021, many stepped up, including Juanita Irvin. Her decision led to a partnership that’s helping thousands get vaccinated. Irvin, who has worked for DPSS for 7 years, is an investigative technician with the department’s 80-member Inspections Branch, which investigates public benefits fraud. But in February, she partnered with the Department of Public Health to take on an entirely new job. Irvin managed a team of 20 to lead a mobile COVID-19 vaccination clinic. Now, she coordinates 15 mobile clinics countywide per week in locations such as Beaumont, Corona, Murrieta

and Moreno Valley. Each clinic helps vaccinate up to 300 people a day. “We’ve taken these clinics to community centers and DPSS facilities. It’s been rewarding to see so many people come together to help our residents get vaccinated,” said Irvin. Irvin says she’s grateful to do this work to help end the pandemic and added that the Investigations team has supported her shifting role since it began. “I think what she did was remarkable and exemplifies stepping up in times of crisis. It also shows how we’re one county working for the citizens and we’re in this together to help end this pandemic,” said Chief of the Inspections Branch Shawn Ferris.

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