COVID-19

Webinars:

A New Normal: Learning to Live with COVID
COVID-19 will not so much disappear, as fade into the background. It will become like the many other common pathogens that sicken people, but also can be controlled with vaccines and drugs. Without the eradication of infection in the long term, COVID will be another disease that affects humans, especially the most vulnerable. In this Facebook live session, we discussed what a health center is doing to adapt to an endemic COVID-19 era. This session included infection control approaches, outreach, on-site and virtual visits, and strategies to improve primary health services.

Addressing Tobacco Dependency to Reduce COVID-19 Risks and Complications Webinar Series
Smoking is a major risk factor for most respiratory related infections. The early evidence in this area found that compared with non-smokers, smokers are more likely to develop serious COVID-19 disease. Recent studies also show that current smokers have been more likely to access various forms of smoking cessation assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. This offers an opportunity for Health Centers to offer smoking cessation services, referrals, and in-house psychological and pharmacological interventions. These two webinars provided examples of cessation plans and resources that can be shared with patients trying to stop smoking.

“Are We Prepared for the Next Emergency?” Webinar Series
Health centers are likely to be the first point of contact for those seeking care for injuries, infectious diseases, and other emergency-related illnesses. As first-line responders, health centers are responsible for dealing with health emergency case management. The purpose of this webinar series is to increase awareness and understanding of the need for preparing for new emergencies beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.  

The webinar series provides an overview of best practices and challenges health centers face during emergencies and the role of primary care associations to lead the health centers’ emergency response. 

Building Resilience in the Midst of a Pandemic: What Health Care Workers and Leaders Can Do During the COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 crisis has required health centers to focus on the challenges of achieving effective healthcare delivery during shortages of staff, equipment and funding. A lot of energy has been devoted to the urgent and critical need for personal protective equipment, the impending lack of respirators and tests, and the pressure on health centers to help “flatten the curve.” This crisis has left little time to address the impact of workplace and personal stressors on providers and other staff as they try to balance the fear of contracting the virus while carrying a heavy, complex workload. There is a real risk of a mental health crisis facing health care workers on the front lines of this pandemic. This webinar provided tips and recommendations for leadership, clinical and non-clinical staff working at health center clinical sites on how to create a healthy environment and cope with anxiety, depression and other behavioral disorders caused by COVID-19 (SARS-CoV2).

Debunk the Myths and Know the Facts: The COVID-19 Vaccine
This conference presentation by NCHPH and NNCC answers commonly asked questions in reference to the COVID-19 vaccines and its effects.

Partnership Opportunities for Health Centers, EnVision Centers, and Public Housing Agencies
The recent COVID-19 crisis his highlighted the magnitude of health inequities faced by public housing residents and the need for a coordinated approach in providing health prevention and treatment, as well as the basic goods and services needed to survive, e.g., food, medicine and shelter. This webinar focused on the importance of collaboration between Health Centers, Public Housing Agencies, and EnVision to improve the overall health and well-being of public housing residents.

Preparing the Health Center Workforce for the Post COVID-19 Era
The first priority during the COVID-19 pandemic was crisis response and emphasizing health, safety, and essential services. Now is the time for health centers to turn their attention toward concerns over staffing shortages in primary care, which is a public health crisis. This webinar was intended for health centers to discuss strategies to address the evolving staffing shortage challenges after COVID-19.

Preventing Relapse in the COVID Era
Misinformation and disinformation related to COVID-19 and electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) are increasing.  Some of this may stem from early reports suggesting a lower risk of severe COVID-19 in nicotine users.  During this webinar, participants reviewed the variety of electronic nicotine device systems, revised the current science on ENDS and their role on cessation, and learned about how vaping can increase the likelihood of severe COVID-19 symptoms, and clearly counsel patients on the efficacy and safety of using vaping for tobacco cessation.

Secondary Traumatic Stress Identification, Mitigation and Improving Work Satisfaction for HC Staff During the COVID-19 Pandemic
This webinar educates staff on the concept of traumatic stress. It identifies terms, risk factors, and symptoms associated with compassion fatigue/secondary traumatic stress and burnout. The concept of self-care is introduced, and participants learn about building skills that can mitigate traumatic stress responses and improve work satisfaction and resilience.

Special and Vulnerable Populations COVID-19 Forums
In this series of forums on COVID-19, NCHPH collaborated with HUD, BPHC, HRSA and training and technical assistance partners to discuss routine updates on COVID-19 such as vaccines.

Strategies to Improve Staff Retention in Health Center Settings
The rate of staff turnover at health center facilities is staggering and was exacerbated by the complexities and stressful circumstances created by the COVID-19 pandemic.  Given the important implications of staff turnover, health centers have made significant attempts to understand its underlying reasons and devise solutions to decrease it.  This webinar explored many strategies to improve staff retention in health center settings.

Partnering for the COVID Vaccine: Lessons from the Flu-LEAD Project
The National Nurse-Led Care Consortium, the National Center for Health in Public Housing, and subject matter experts from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development hosted a webinar about leveraging health center and housing authority partnerships for COVID vaccine distribution. Speakers discussed lessons learned from the HUD/HRSA Flu-LEAD (Linkages to End Access Disparities) project.

Integrating Behavioral Health During a Pandemic
Mental Health is an important topic for patients living in public housing, particularly during the crisis of a pandemic. In this webinar NCHPH discussed findings from research on the mental health of public housing residents and the medical director from La Maestra Community Health Center will discuss their innovative integrated behavioral health program.

Panel Discussion on COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing: Promising Practices, Lessons Learned and Challenges
The COVID-19 pandemic is changing rapidly and requires different strategies to maintain clinical preventive services including immunization and testing. During this panel discussion NCHPH, La Maestra Community Health Centers, Mile Square Health Center and Zufall Health Center addressed COVID-19 vaccination, testing promising practices, lessons learned and challenges.

The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Health Center Workforce: Challenges and Solutions
More than 2 years after the first cases of COVID-19 were reported in the U.S., the pandemic continues to affect communities across the country and has pushed our health centers to the brink. Throughout the pandemic, health centers and their workforces have remained on the front lines mobilizing resources to ensure access to care for the patients and communities they serve. Despite increasing demand for health care services, health centers indicate a critical shortage of staff necessary to meet that demand. Burnout, stress, depression, etc. have eroded our healthy workforce. This Facebook Live session discussed workforce challenges and how to navigate these challenges. 

Hot Shots: What’s the Deal with Delta?
In conjunction with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), NCHPH co-hosted a webinar on how to collaborate with public housing agencies and other community organizations to support safe COVID-19 vaccination, masking, and social distancing practices in your community to help stop the spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant.

Winter 2022-23 Update: Respiratory Disease Prevention- Addressing COVID-19, Flu, RSV, and Preparation for Future Outbreaks
The National Center for Health in Public Housing (NCHPH) in collaboration with HUD, conducted a webinar on COVID-19, Flu and RSV and how they can be addressed through treatment, prevention and partnerships between Health Centers, Public Housing Agencies and other CBOs. Challenges, resources and promising practices for addressing current outbreaks and preparing for the next emergency were identified by speakers from CDC, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), HUD, a health center and a public housing agency.

---

Learning Collaboratives:

Addressing COVID-19’s Impact on Health Centers’ Finance and Operations and Response Planning for Future COVID-19 Outbreaks and Other Emergencies 
This learning collaborative guides participants through the challenges and solutions for addressing the financial and operational impacts of COVID-19 on health centers serving residents of public housing and other underserved communities, with an emphasis on applied response planning for future emergencies.

Community Partnerships to Address the Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Residents of Public Housing
The COVID-19 pandemic and its associated mitigation strategies are expected to have significant psychosocial, behavioral, socioeconomic, and health impacts, which are exacerbated in populations that experience health disparities and other vulnerable groups. Those experiencing health disparities prior to the COVID-19 pandemic are at increased risk of infection and other COVID-19 related consequences, such as job loss, unpaid leave, and lost wages. Given the urgent need for prevention and mitigation strategies (i.e., physical distancing, wearing face coverings, frequent handwashing, disinfecting surfaces, shelter-in-place, self-isolation upon suspected exposure, leaving home only for essential activities, etc.), there is also a need to leverage and scale existing partnerships, resources and platforms and ongoing mitigation efforts within communities to attenuate adverse outcomes. This learning collaborative explored existing or developing partnership strategies to address the negative health impacts of COVID-19 in vulnerable populations.

COVID-19 & Diabetes: Challenges & Opportunities to Help Vulnerable Populations
In this learning collaborative session, the National Center for Health in Public Housing and the Health in Public Housing Clinical Quality Work Group discussed the latest challenges faced by PHPCs related to COVID-19 and diabetes care. Best practices and Telehealth concerns associated with health care service delivery were among other topics addressed in this call.

COVID-19 Pandemic: Interventions and Challenges in Public Housing Primary Care
During this call, NCHPH and PHPC Health Centers discussed some of the most pressing needs for PHPCs in response to COVID-19. Health Centers shared their best practices to prevent COVID-19 infections among health center staff and their current patient management mechanisms. Other topics of discussion also included HUD guidance, community collaborations, challenges and training and technical assistance needs. 

Health in Public Housing Clinical Quality Work Group Call: Increasing Access to Care
During this call, NCHPH and PHPC Health Centers discussed the latest challenges and best practices related to COVID-19 and access to health care services. Other points of discussion were TTA priorities and health center issues.

Special Populations Roundtable: Health Center COVID-19 Vaccine Program
NCHPH and other National Training and Technical Assistance Partner organizations hosted a bi-weekly roundtable discussion around the COVID-19 vaccination rollout for special populations. During these sessions, subject matter experts convened to provide health centers with up-to-date information about the COVID-19 vaccine and their response to cases and questions from health centers and other community partners. 

---

Publications:

Building COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence
This publication by NCHPH and NNCC explains the importance of the COVID-19 vaccine and ways to boost confidence in the vaccine.

Combating COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation and Disinformation Through Culturally Competent Strategies
This report describes the elements that contribute to vaccine hesitancy among ethnic minorities and offers culturally appropriate strategies on how to combat the effects of misinformation and disinformation with health center patients and staff.

COVID-19 Informational Guide for Public Housing Residents: Know the Basics
This infographic by NCHPH (available in English/Spanish) provides general information on COVID-19.

COVID-19 Informational Guide for Public Housing Residents – Know the Basics of Seeking Care
This infographic by NCHPH provides general information on how public housing residents can seek care for COVID-19, testing services provided by health centers near public housing agencies and providing clarification on the Public Charge Rule.

COVID-19 Resource Guide
This publication provides a compilation of COVID-19 activities conducted by NCHPH.

COVID-19 Vaccine Resource Guide 
This publication provides a compilation of COVID-19 vaccine activities conducted by NCHPH.

How to Obtain COVID-19 Vaccines
This publication by NCHPH teaches health center professionals how to obtain the COVID-19 vaccine.

Impact of COVID-19 On Public Housing Primary Care (PHPC) Health Center Patients and Operations
This publication by NCHPH highlights findings from a survey distributed to public housing residents assessing the effects that COVID-19 has had on Public Housing Primary Care (PHPC) patients and health center operations.