COVID-19 Learning and Action Collaborative Archive
Week of May 25, 2020
- New Resource: 2021 Mental Health Resource List
- Partner Feature: Gathering Grounds: Creating a Space for Indigenous Culture, Wisdom, and Connection in Public Health. Read more today.
- News from NNPHI: Working Together to Support Covid-19 Response and Recover: NNPHI Members Tap their Collaborative Capacity to Create Action-Oriented Taskforce. Read more today.
DISCUSSIONS
- Mental Health. Is anyone aware of support groups for healthcare and/or other frontline workers, virtual or non-virtual, local, state or national? Or any companies providing any sort of mental health assistance? – Traci from Ohio
- The VA’s COVID Coach app was created for everyone, including Veterans and Service members, to support self-care and overall mental health during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
- Talkspace offers free therapist-led Facebook groups and financial aid to frontline workers.
- Ginger.io, a behavioral health app, will offer US-based health systems the option to provide their frontline healthcare workers with free, on-demand behavioral health coaching through the end of June 2020. Eligible health care workers will be able to chat in real-time with a trained behavioral health coach, any time of day or night.
- Project Parachute – In cooperation with Eleos Health, they aim to provide pro-bono therapy for front line health care professionals.
- Lyf – Frontline workers can get a free 60-minute text therapy session.
- How are you dealing with the digital divide? How is your community responding to the digital divide challenge for vulnerable populations, especially in providing access to essential service areas such as health care? – Andrew from California
- Contact Tracing for Homeless Populations. We are looking for policies and procedures around mobile COVID testing (swab PCR testing) for homeless using our mobile hygiene and clinic vehicles. Thank you for any mobile health, homeless outreach, or cleaning processes in relation to covid testing. – Darrah from Hawaii
- Virtual Implementation of EBPs. Has anyone successfully transitioned their current evidence based programs to a virtual option? We operate with youth in schools, and we are making contingency plans for the Fall. ANY help would be appreciated! – Abby from Mississippi
- Getting to school in the fall. How can students arrive safely at schools when they reopen? – Leslie from Canada
- Chronic Disease Management and COVID-19. How are you ensuring vulnerable populations (e.g., those with diabetes or hypertension) are able to engage with their primary care providers effectively? – Anonymous
- Health equity and COVID-19. This pandemic is making health inequities blatantly obvious. What are you doing (or do you plan to do) to effect policy and systems changes to reduce these inequities moving forward? – Gillian from Colorado
Week of May 18, 2020
- Member Feature: Mississippi Public Health Institute (MSPHI) Hosts Second Food Distribution Drive During Shelter In Place Order. Read more today.
DISCUSSIONS
Join the Open COVID-19 Community to contribute to these conversations:
- Preparing for a Mental Health Pandemic. How are public health organizations preparing for this problem? What challenges will they be facing locally and nationally? – Sharon from Connecticut
- How are you dealing with the digital divide? How is your community responding to the digital divide challenge for vulnerable populations, especially in providing access to essential service areas such as health care? – Andrew from California
- How is your organization thinking about the future? What will your organization be doing more of or differently to emerge stronger from the pandemic? – Glenn from Georgia
- Adherence Monitoring. What tools are you using or exploring for monitoring isolation adherence? – Veronica from Washington, DC
- Substance use and COVID-19. Any substance use prevention specialists here? How are you interacting with people in your community? – Abby from Mississippi
- The next phase of mental health support. What should we be thinking about in terms of mental health during re-opening and in the event that activities are restricted again? – Guddi from Illinois
- Ideas for promoting workforce resilience and mental health. How does one act as an advocate and proponent of workforce resilience and mental health? How does one inspire leadership to do the same? – Alyssa from Florida
- Creative and innovative approaches to student learning. How are you seeing academic institutions think creatively about internships, practicums, and clinical experiences? – Pamela from Wisconsin
RESOURCES
- Contact Tracing Training: Every Contact Counts (Northwest Center for Public Health Practice)
- Data Dashboard: Economic, social and overall health impacts (Seattle & King County)
- COVID-19 Racial Equity Rapid Response: Guidebook for Government (The Government Alliance on Race & Equity)
Week of May 4, 2020
- Member Feature: Michigan Public Health Institute (MPHI) CEO, Dr. Renée Branch Canady Appointed to the Michigan Coronavirus Task Force on Racial Disparities. Read more today.
- Member Feature: Colorado Health Institute Develops Critical Tool to Enhance Data-Driven Decisions at the State and Local Level. Read more today.
- Member Feature: Puerto Rico Public Health Trust Reaches 150 first responders with critical training in mental health and resilience. Read more today.
DISCUSSIONS
Q. How are health departments in states with mandated workplace temperature checks preparing to inform businesses?
A. Here are some resources for temperature checking protocols:
- COVID-19: Screening Employee Temperatures: What Employers Need to Know (WilmerHale)
- US COVID-19: Workplace Temperature Screening: How To Develop and Implement A Screening Protocol (JD Supra)
RESOURCES
- Training: Thriving in an Online Work Environment (Midwestern Public Health Training Center, Rocky Mountain Public Health Training Center, Region IV Public Health Training Center)
- The State Environmental Justice Cooperative Agreement Program (EPA)
Week of April 27, 2020
- On the blog: NNPHI Convenings and COVID-19. – Carmelita Marrow writes about the ever-changing landscape of in-person convenings and how NNPHI has adapted to our new reality. Read more today.
- On the blog: Peer-to-Peer Learning Drives Critical Action During COVID-19 Pandemic. – Jennifer McKeever shares progress and learnings from the National Coordinating Center for Public Health Training (NCCPHT)’s Learning and Action Collaborative. Read more today.
Q. Where can I find culturally sensitive health education resources?
A. Here’s a list of resources shared by community members related to communications in languages other than English and resources for special populations.
- American Sign Language YouTube Channel (CDC)
- COVID-19 Information by Language (Endangered Languages Project)
- Fact Sheet Library (Massachusetts Department of Public Health)
- COVID-19 Online Information Resource page (EthnoMed)
- Community Health Worker COVID-19 Online Training (MCD Public Health)
- Making Contact: A Training for COVID-19 Contact Tracers (ASTHO)
- COVIDMINDER: Reveals the regional disparities in outcomes, determinants, and mediations of the COVID-19 pandemic. Outcomes are the direct effects of COVID-19. (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with data from Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering)
- Focus-19: Measuring Daily Social Impact of COVID-19 in the U.S. (Focus-19 is produced through a collaboration between 211Counts.org and the Health Communication Research Laboratory of the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.)
Week of April 20, 2020
- On the blog: We Finally Have the Spotlight. What Are We Going to Do With It? – Jennifer McKeever, MSW, MPH shares thoughts on supporting public health workforce beyond COVID-19. Read more today.
Q. Where can I find resources for drive-through testing site set-up and policies?
A. Here’s a list of resources shared by community members related to drive through testing.
- 16 Key Considerations for Drive Through Testing (ASTHO)
- Contact Tracing Toolkit (CDC)
- Disease Investigation Resources and Trainings (National Coalition of STD Directors)
Q. How are you noticing the tension between getting back to normal and keeping the public safe showing up in your community? Are your community leaders reaching out to and listening to public health?
A. “We are very fortunate that the mayor of the city and the county executives from our county and some surrounding counties have been listening to public health leaders (just as the mayor did in 1918 during the Spanish Flu) and have instituted fairly strict safe-at-home guidelines. We also have a taskforce comprised of the four largest hospital groups that is headed by a public health professional, and that taskforce is continuing to urge delays in lifting the guidelines.” – David from Missouri
- Enforced social isolation and mental health: an observational study of the psychosocial effects of quarantine during COVID-19 (University of Florida)
- New Census Surveys Provide Near Real-Time Info on Households, Businesses During COVID-19 (U.S. Census Bureau)
Week of April 13, 2020
- Member Feature: Dr. Roderick King of the Florida Institute For Health Innovation was recently interviewed for two media stories on the impact that COVID-19 has had on African American communities. (Miami Herald | WLRN News)
Q. Does anyone have resources or tips for helping homeless populations?
A. Our local Coalition to End Homelessness has an agreement with an area Days Inn and has been housing those who are homeless and willing there. I’m not sure of the details but could get you contact information if you would like more details. Also, our county Department of Emergency Services is housing homeless and shelter residents who have been tested for or are known to be Covid-19 + for a 2 week period. That requires a doctor’s note stating the need for quarantine. The hospital emails/calls the DES Deputy Chief who takes down the information and submits it. It can take 4-6 hours but they then notify the appropriate staff person at the hospital which hotel they are going to and transportation is provided there. The hospital is asked to make sure the patient has 14 days of meds available if they did not bring their medication with them. – Tracy from Pennsylvania
The City of Tampa and Catholic Charities has set-up a temporary tent sheltering area for 100 homeless individuals that includes hygiene areas and 3 meals a day. – Jenna from Florida
- Covid-19 Preparedness: How ready is your county? (STAT and Center for Rural Innovation)
- COVID19: Using a Health Equity and Human Rights Lens to Protect Vulnerable Populations during this Pandemic and Beyond (Region 2 Public Health Training Center)
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