Gemeinschaftsmedizin und Gesundheitserziehung

Abstrakt

Reducing COVID-19 Pandemic Morbidity and Mortality in the Minority Population through Education and Training of Diverse Community Health Advocates/Ambassadors

John R. Stone*, Sade Kosoko Lasaki, Richard Brown, Jeffrey M. Smith, Doris Lassiter and Mervin Vasser

This paper summarizes a successful community-academic collaboration to provide education and training for 60 community health advisors/advocates (CHAs) to prevent or reduce the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on populations with disadvantage (Midwest, Omaha and Douglas County, Nebraska, USA). African American and Latinx CHAs were the majority, but CHAs also represented the Maya community. The project’s basis was a prior project that empowered CHAs to enhance community physical activity in the African American community. The education/training sessions were exclusively virtual, combining group presentations with discussion and small breakout groups for case study review (examples provided). The paper summarizes curriculum content, organizational structure, diverse information dissemination approaches, and how the project successfully met evaluation objectives. CHA trainees were diverse. However, the model employed might not translate to other communities with different histories, culture, and persuasions.