The complications brought about by COVID-19 have left over 17 million Americans unemployed, left many hospitals ICUs around the nation over-worked and beyond capacity, and most importantly, jeopardized the health and safety of millions of families. During this time of turmoil, the shortcomings of the legal system, healthcare industry and social service industry have been exposed—primarily due to a lack of coordination between the systems; however, the pressure on agencies across all sectors to adapt to the circumstances has produced many new innovative ideas and services, and PCIC is no exception.
We are applying diverse skillsets towards assisting with COVID-19 relief efforts. Through our intervention team’s work on the ground helping vulnerable patients attain critical resources during a period of scarcity, our technology team’s utilization of cross-sector data to track and coordinate resources, and our strategic partnership with Bread of Life, Inc. to combat food insecurity and loneliness for minority populations disproportionately affected by COVID-19, we are working towards a unified health system for vulnerable people.
Intervention
Our intervention staff supports vulnerable patients by coordinating resources and services for them in real-time, according to their individual needs and aspirations. While this process has not changed for the purpose of COVID-19 relief, the limited availability of economic assistance programs, mental and behavioral health services, social services and medical services, combined with the rapidly increasing populations in need of those resources have impacted these individuals’ stability and safety.
To receive the appropriate care, they must navigate complex, siloed systems, and our Social Work team advocates for them by functioning as conduit between agencies and the patients. Their expertise in this field enables efficient use of resource mapping tools developed by our Data team to identify available resources and services in real time that correspond to the patients’ needs and goals.
Refer to the table below for COVID-19-relevant resources and services our intervention team is coordinating:
| Socio-Economic/ Living | Mental/ Behavioral Health | Social/ Medical Care |
|---|---|---|
| Economic Impact Payments (Stimulus Payment) | Loss Coping Assistance | Childcare Assistance |
| Eviction Assistance | COVID Behavioral Health Line | Domestic Violence Assistance |
| Mortgage Assistance | Suicide Prevention Hotline | Food Insecurity Services |
| Price Gouging and Scamming Reporting | Student-Specific Food Insecurity Services | |
| Student Loan Assistance | COVID Testing Sites | |
| Unemployment Assistance | Volunteering Opportunities | |
| Utility Bill Payment Assistance | Workplace Safety |
Technology & Data
Our Data and Development teams are applying public data for contact tracing, usage tracking, and resource mapping efforts in a research and application capacity. By analyzing utilization data from food banks, homeless services and emergency medical services (EMS), a better understanding of trends, in terms of the availability and consumption of those resources, is achieved. Our data analysts then used these data to develop new, comprehensive tools to identify the specific resources needed for each community cohort. Moreover, by sharing these data and tools with agencies across the medical, social and legal sectors, leaders from each domain can effectively drive resource distribution processes to meet the needs of individuals in resource “hot-spots” (concentrated areas in need of a particular resource or service).
PCIC is also developing new methods to identify particularly vulnerable populations in need of assistance. By integrating data from the national census, CDC-500 Cities, which provides data-driven city and tract-level estimates regarding chronic disease risk factors, health outcomes and clinical preventive services used for the 500 largest U.S. cities, and the CDC-SVI (Social Vulnerability Index), that indicates the strength of community support when faced with an external health stressor, we can provide tract-level data regarding the resilience and vulnerability of communities, along with the patterns of need across the city. This is especially helpful during times of distress, such as natural or human-caused disasters, or disease outbreaks, such as COVID-19.
Key Partner Spotlight: Bread of Life Inc.
Staying at home and social distancing has shown to improve public health outcomes, but isolation can perpetuate mental health afflictions. Current siloed care provision models make it difficult to coordinate and distribute resources effectively across large populations. This pandemic has impacted the rate of food insecurity and debilitating loneliness by three-fold. Furthermore, people of color, who comprise 14% of the U.S. population, currently account for over 40% of COVID-19 cases. These statistics convey two critical points: the pressing need to streamline care delivery to meet the ever-expanding base of recipients, and systemic racism seen across some social, healthcare and government systems.
This acute need for reform is perpetuated by government-mandated closures of certain social services, classified as “non-essential businesses”. As such, PCIC, Bread of Life, Inc., and other supporting organizations have partnered to create the “COVID-19 Connects” initiative. This program integrates innovative technologies and services from each partnered agency to overcome the acute hunger and loneliness faced by Houston’s most vulnerable, minority populations. By developing a version of the UCCP’s CCC and CRX modules, and training Bread of Life’s team of case managers and social workers to follow a Values-Based Model (VBM) of intervention, we are giving their care providers a platform to manage and track care plans, attain valuable tracking data and mitigate the struggles faced by Houston’s most vulnerable populations.
To learn more about Bread of Life Inc. and their programs, click here.