SNHD COVID-19 Health Disparities - As a public health entity dedicated to eliminating disparities and advancing equity in our community, the Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD) is well suited to carry out and coordinate strategies to advance health equity and address COVID-19-related health disparities for populations at higher risk and that are underserved, including racial and ethnic minority groups and people living in rural communities through this grant project. SNHD's COVID-19 Health Disparities project will mobilize a robust network of community partner to implement activities across the four overarching strategies for the project. Activities include: Strategy 1 1. Expand testing and contact tracing. 2. Partner Collaboration - Identify and establish collaborations with critical partners affiliated with populations at higher risk and that are underserved, including racial and ethnic minority groups at higher risk for COVID-19 3. Waste Water Testing 4. COVID-19/Disease Educational Clinics for Urban Underserved, Rural Health and Public Health Professionals 5. Conversational AI bot Strategy 2 1. Improve data quality of race / ethnicity and other demographic information collection and educate providers on the importance of the race / ethnicity data and appropriate strategies to collect it by working with Healthier Nevada. 2. Provide geocoding service for all COVID-19 data, spatial analysis of disparities in COVID-19, and vaccine phases and waves and GIS training to SNHD Employees. 3. Enhance eCR reporting and implementation from local health care providers. 4. Implement an application to automate fax optical character recognition and automated insertion for COVID-19 disease tracking, case investigation, and contact tracing. 5. Improve data collection and reporting for testing and contact tracing for populations at higher risk and that are underserved. 6. Build on plans for collecting and reporting timely, complete, representative, and relevant data on testing, incidence, vaccination, and severe outcomes by detailed race and ethnicity categories, taking into account age and sex differences between groups. 7. Develop key principles and resources for collecting, analyzing, reporting, and disseminating health equity-related data to inform action during a public health emergency. 8. Assure adequate resources for data infrastructure and workforce to ensure alignment with data modernization. 9. Provide the baseline data for establishing healthcare equity models. 10. Use community surveys and focus groups to advise the development of social media and other media strategies to ensure effective, culturally sensitive and culturally competent messaging regarding COVID-19. Strategy 3 1. Establish health equity positions to guide addressing COVID-19 among communities at higher risk and that are underserved. 2. Update jurisdictions' COVID-19 plans and health equity plans to support communities most at risk for COVID-19, with the intention of setting up systems that put in place infrastructures and plans that can also support future emergency responses. 3. Build and expand the faith-based community's capacity to influence, assess, and address the needs of communities disproportionately affected by COVID-19. 4. Expand public health workforce, including hiring people from the community who are equipped to assess and address the needs of communities disproportionately affected by COVID-19. 5. Establish additional community clinics in underserved areas. Strategy 4 1. Develop culturally appropriate educational and informational campaigns and outreach programs to increase vaccine rates among disproportionately impacted populations. 2. Establish a Southern Nevada Rural Medical Education Collaborative
