Listening Session: Tuesday, May 5, 2020
All In hosted a Listening Session on Tuesday, May 5, 2020, with more than 75 participants to compare notes on community-by-community COVID response-what was working, what was not, and what additional information was needed. Here is a roundup of those conversations:
Crisis Response Network in Arizona pivoted their Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) toward COVID related needs. Tyler Rosensteel, Director of HMIS at Crisis Response Network, joined to share their COVID response. They are already seeing early success anecdotally with data helping prioritize homeless individuals with a positive diagnosis to access temporary housing for social distance and self-quarantine.
Dan Chavez, the Executive Director of San Diego Health Connect, speaks on providing Emergency Medical Services and dispatch centers access to the Health Information Exchange for the first time. Chavez shares other changes that have been put into place during COVID, including being one of the first in the country to establish contact tracing.
In Maricopa County, Arizona the 211 service has begun preliminary exploration for assisting with contact tracing. The Association of State & Territorial Health Officials posted A National Approach to Contact Tracing and offer a training online. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Health Security also has a blueprint for a national plan.
Sharon Perlmen, an epidemiologist in NYC, reports that they have started to recruit contact tracers and develop policies with the aim to hire several thousand people.
The COVID-19 pandemic isn't affecting all communities the same way. The COVID Racial Data Tracker tracks this inequity by collecting, publishing, and analyzing racial data on the pandemic from across the United States. It is a collaboration of the COVID Tracking Project and the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research.
Dan Chavez with San Diego Health Connect speaks of doing consent by workflow rather than pushing for Universal Consent options.
Ted Rooney with the Maine Council on Aging discusses how to deliver services to the elderly while they are confined to their homes.
Read "All In COVID Listening Sessions Connect Communities Struggling with COVID-19" by Stephanie Johnson All In Online Community Manager for more extensive coverage.