Please complete a response to the following post: (the objective is to compare and contrast the emergency preparedness policy of a home care agency to the one mentioned below) Attached you will find the emergency preparedness home care agency policy for NYS.
Data has shown that African American communities have been disproportionally affected by the Covid pandemic, according to the Kaiser family Foundation 11.7% of African Americans had no health insurance compared to 7.5% of whites in 2018. Before the Affordable Care Act was started 20% of African Americans did not have insurance (M; 2020). Even with the ACA, African Americans still had a higher rate of no insurance more than whites, and people who do not have insurance are less likely to seek medical care such as treatments, vaccines, and other test.
Some research shows that African Americans were hit the hardest, approximately 97.9 out of every 100,000 African Americans have died from Covid-19, this rate is a third higher than Latinos, and more than double for whites (M; 2020). The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has identified many African Americans that hold low wage jobs, and these jobs may deny paid sick leave. Since there is no paid sick leave, people will more than likely continue to come to work, even with symptoms, exposing other workers to Covid. Also, a worker may not know they are infected and already have infected people that they are in close contact with such as family and co-workers. People with no insurance or any paid sick leave through their job could continue to spread the virus throughout the community. Determining the social determinants of health will help create interventions catered to the community’s needs.
The Syracuse community health center (SCHC) where I volunteered for the drive up covid testing site was a wonderful experience. The population that the SCHC serves is mostly immigrants and the underserved community (Kuroda et al., 2024). Follow-up instructions for positive tests should have been printed out in several different languages. At times there were residents lingering around, I talked with them, and most were hesitant to get tested because they did not have insurance, once I explained things to them in terms they could understand they felt more comfortable getting tested. I think having a black nurse educating them helped the residents feel more at ease to tell me any fears that they may have regarding the test and the vaccine.
Although these issues are not new, the pandemic just amplified the inequalities that African Americans and other minorities face due to their race. Establishing a good rapport between healthcare workers and the community is one way to build trust and begin to implement interventions catered to this specific community needs.
Kuroda, M., Shaw, A. V., & Campagna, C. D. (2024). The experiences of community health workers when communicating with refugees about COVID-19 vaccines in Syracuse, NY: A qualitative study. Heliyon, 10(4), e26136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e26136
Reyes, M. (2020). The Disproportional Impact of COVID-19 on African Americans. Health and Human Rights., 22(2), 299–307.
