COVID-19 and the Potential Devastation of Rural Communities: Concern from the Southeastern Belts
Charles Ellis, PhD; Molly Jacobs, PhD; Keith Keene, PhD; Ronny Bell; and Daniel Dickerson, PhD
Five states in the southeastern US (South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida) were some of the last to enact statewide “shelter in place” mandates. The spread of COVID-19 from urban to rural communities should be alarming. This essay posits that the conditions exist to create the perfect storm for COVID-19 to have devastating effects on rural America, particularly in the southeastern US. 8 April 2020. Nonrefereed, online collection only. Permanent URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/154715
Epidemiology of COVID-19 Among People Experiencing Homelessness: Early Evidence From Boston
Travis P. Baggett, MD, MPH; Elizabeth Lewis, MBA; and Jessie M. Gaeta, MD
The authors estimated population frequencies of confirmed COVID-19 cases among adults experiencing homelessness in Boston relative to the Massachusetts adult population. Over a 15-day period, 182 homeless adults in Boston were diagnosed with COVID-19 for an estimated cumulative frequency of 46.3 cases per 1000 persons, as compared to 1.9 cases per 1000 among Massachusetts adults on the same date. The trajectory and burden of COVID-19 cases among homeless adults suggests that cities should prepare urgently for the possibility of a COVID-19 surge in this population. 10 April 2020. Nonrefereed, online collection only. Permanent URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/154734
Housing as Health Care During and After the COVID-19 Crisis
Kelly M. Doran, MD, MHS; Stephen Cha, MD, MHS; Richard Cho, PhD; Barbara DiPietro, PhD; Lillian Gelberg, MD, MSPH; and Margot Kushel, MD
The COVID-19 crisis has illustrated clearly that “housing is health care.” The authors describe strategies to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 for homeless populations and for the health care system. 23 April 2020. Nonrefereed, online collection only. Permanent URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/154767
COVID 19 Hotspots And Vulnerable Populations Identified By Area Deprivation Index Mapping
Niharika Khanna, MD, MBBS, DGO, Elena Klyushnenkova, PhD
The authors used the Area Deprivation Index (ADI) to create an online tool for physicians and target outreach efforts to patients with greatest needs. COVID 19 pandemic is an opportunity for innovation to bridge the digital divide and the ADI is the first step in identifying patients most in need of practice supports. 12 May, 2020. Nonrefereed, online collection only. Permanent URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/155341
Developing a COVID-19 Medical Respite Unit for Adults Experiencing Homelessness: Lessons Learned from an Interdisciplinary Community-Academic Partnership
Katherine A. Nash, Benjamin A. Howell, Emma Lo, Jaclyn Portanova, Keitra Thompson, Philip Costello, Alison Cunningham, Mehul Dalal, Sarah B. Lipkin, David I. Rosenthal, and Angela Martinez-Strengel
The authors, a group of public health officials, clinicians, academics, and non-profit leaders, partnered with the City of New Haven, Connecticut, to develop a COVID-19 medical respite program for people experiencing homelessness in their community. They describe the key processes and challenges inherent to designing the COVID-19 respite, including: the balance between patient autonomy and a public health agenda; how to deliver trauma informed, equitable, patient-centered, high-quality care with low resources; and approaches to program evaluation. 21 May 2020. Nonrefereed, online collection only. Permanent URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/155396
Addressing Food Insecurity During COVID-19: A Role for Rural Federally Qualified Health Centers
Arvind Suresh, BA, Arhem F. Barkatullah, BS, and Maureen B. Boardman, MSN
Past pandemics have revealed that populations served by the primary care safety net require resources beyond federal and state aid programs. At one federally qualified health center, staff have adapted their food prescription program for patients with chronic diseases to a home delivery service, which leverages existing relationships between care coordinators and patients. 29 May, 2020. Nonrefereed, online collection only. Permanent URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/155450
A Triple Threat for COVID-19: Homelessness, Tobacco Use, and Aging
Maya Vijayaraghavan, MD, MAS, William J. McCarthy, PhD, and Lillian Gelberg, MD, MSPH
The authors describe here potential solutions to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 among people experiencing homelessness, emphasizing the urgent need for permanent supportive housing. They highlight the opportunities that the COVID-19 pandemic offers to heighten awareness of the harms of tobacco use and the benefits from smoking cessation. They also describe challenges to accessing telehealth primary care for people experiencing homelessness, and the roles that primary care providers and pharmacists can take to mitigate barriers to access healthcare and smoking cessation services. 12 June 2020. Nonrefereed, online collection only. Permanent URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/155583
You Can’t Heal What You Don’t Reveal
Shailendra Prasad MBBS MPH, Andrea Westby MD, Renee Crichlow MD
The authors describe the aftermath of a Family Medicine clinic that was looted and vandalized during the demonstrations in the aftermath of the brutal murder of George Floyd by an officer of the Minneapolis Police department. "The significant stress that healthcare systems have faced with COVID19 has led to a recognition that we have designed systems that are “person-centric rather than community centric”. Understanding what constitutes this community is key to understanding the role that Family Medicine has to play in the future." Accepted October 8, 2020. In Press. Permanent URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/155617
Food Bag Program to Address the Immediate Food Needs of Patients During the COVID-19 Crisis
Jahnes, Katherine, MD; Hopkins, Kathleen; Foote, Emily, MSW; Fleisher, Diana, MD; Doran, Kelly M., MD, MHS
In this report we describe creation of a novel emergency department (ED) food bag program in New York City. The food bag program was designed to help meet immediate food needs of patients being discharged from the ED. Each bag contained shelf-stable food as well as a handout describing other community food resources. The program leveraged community-hospital partnerships, was met with enthusiasm from patients and staff alike, and would be highly replicable to other settings. 6 July 2020. Nonrefereed, online collection only. Permanent URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/156010