We are Combatting COVID-19.

Posted on by Neighborhood Resilience

In this time of crisis, the Neighborhood Resilience Project is working to build resilience in our community as we address COVID-19 crisis. Several ways we are working to combat the virus and mitigate the economic impact for people during this time are below:

  1. We have launched a Community Health Deputy Initiative. We are working to establish Community Health Deputies in medically underserved communities across Allegheny County. These deputies have three objectives:
      1. To be trained in the epidemiological frame work to combat the spread of the disease (to include screening for symptoms of and exposure to COVID-19).
      2. To understand and respond to the needs of the people, including but not limited to food and medicine.
      3. To assess and support the mental health of people in this time of crisis.

The organization has trained 118 Community Health Deputies and has 102 that are active across 15 communities in the Pittsburgh region. Through the labors of the Community Health Deputies, much work has been accomplished in these 15 communities as highlighted in the table below. These deputies will enable the organization to quickly reach, connect with and disseminate information to community members and stakeholders to build the task force and begin to address health equity in this area. Consulting with Health Deputies was how the organization began to discern that mental health is a great need within the community.

Packages of food and emergency services distributed – 8,188
Cases of interrupting the transmission of COVID-19 – 564
Activities to support the prevention of future spread of COVID-19 – 5,123
Instances of working to change community norms to promote less spread of COVID-19 – 247 Offerings of therapeutic interactions to community members- 740
  1. We have been performing Telephonic Wellness Checks. These check ups are conducted from one of our staff members or volunteers to community members who are either 60+ or who have serious underlying health issues that place them in the high risk for contracting COVID-19. During these checks, the staff and volunteers are evaluating the following:
    1. Assessing for signs and symptoms of and exposure to COVID-19.
    2. Screening for needs again such as food and medicine.
    3. Checking on the Mental Health of the community member.
  2. We have moved health center operations to Telemedicine. We are continuing to administer health care to hundreds of uninsured patients with our amazing volunteer clinicians and telemedicine. Our patients will therefore still get the care needed for their existing conditions, care for any new presenting illnesses as well as care for other needed supports. The Clinic operations have since moved to a combination of in person visits – following the COVID protocol and telemedicine visits.
  3. Finally, we are providing Food. We have seen a large increase in people needing food. Any canned or non-perishable items are gratefully accepted (Pop Top Cans or Can Openers are always appreciated). The numbers of people coming to get food increases each day.

If you are interested in learning more about supporting one of these initiatives to combat COVID-19 and its economic impact in our community, please contact us at info@neighborhoodresilience.org.

Together we shall overcome!
Sincerely,

Rev. Paul T. Abernathy, CEO

The First Micro-Community

Posted on by Neighborhood Resilience

The probing for the first micro-community intervention of the Neighborhood Resilience Project including strength findings such as leadership, relationship and proximity to the organization, the willingness of the influencers within the micro-community to participate and finally an early adopters spirit. Unlike the subsequent micro-communities who saw the impact within the first intervention and then wanted to participate, the first micro-community needed to trust the project was going to work and trust the organization was going to follow through.

After one micro-community member hosted an in-home meeting to rally her neighbors around the project, the micro-community soon had 75% of their neighbors on board to participate and began to move forward in planning their own Consultative Workshop. The neighbors showed a great sense of commitment to improving their micro-community by ensuring the event was well-attended and created an open space for sharing their thoughts, ideas and insights about how to improve life within their micro-community. This workshop was the start of this micro-community building a supportive network among each other as a first step in building their resilience.

From there, plan were created out of the ideas generated at the Consultative Workshop. Because this plan was generated by the micro-community members themselves, the plan was a first step in creating competency. That sense of competency is another earmark of creating resilience. The next step in creating competency among the members of the micro-community, is to then build leaders among the micro-community. The people who served in these roles for the first micro-community worked diligently with their neighbors to fulfill and complete their plan.

By working through their plans – both collectively and individually, the micro-community created a culture of self-care, which also helps to build resilience. The self-care for the micro-community members included a wide variety of items, such as getting a flu shot for the first time, having a primary care exam each year, getting an eye and dental exam, providing food for neighbors after surgeries or the loss of family members, calling on birthdays, helping each other keep the micro-community clean and free of trash and also working diligently to ensure those within the micro-community were akin to this new culture.

The final piece of resilience building is coping strategies. By building a supportive network, a sense of competence and a self care routine, the members of the micro-community were thus also building their coping strategies toolkit.