Mayo Clinic and Rochester Healthy Community Partnership develop playbook for COVID-19 health equity
February 21, 2022
ROCHESTER, Minn.- A recently published study by 'Public Health Reports' found immigrants and refugees have been impacted more by the pandemic than other groups. Now community leaders are working together to address the issue.
The plan was developed by Rochester Healthy Community Partnership and Mayo Clinic. According to Mayo Clinic, immigrant and refugee communities in Rochester experience higher rates of death and infection.
Since January of 2020, members of Rochester Community Health Partnership have been meeting to make sure immigrants and refugee communities get the health equity they need. They established a task force with Mayo Clinic to develop strategies to fight the pandemic.
The plan includes addressing language and communication gaps and making sure there is equal access to health resources.
The task force actually made a difference in messaging the necessary information to affected communities but also in talking to Mayo Clinic by allowing Mayo Clinic to establish a site where they didn't have to go through an appointment with the doctor," says Rochester Healthy Community Partnership member Ahmed Osman.
Other Rochester Community Partnership members including Miriam Goodson believe more needs to be done to help people.
"We need to create meaningful ways to promote health. Health is a very comprehensive view. It's not just physical. It's mental, spiritual, and social. We hurt when the whole community hurts. Why not come together in a meaningful way."
The strategies were also part of an intervention that reached 39,000 people in Southeast Minnesota's immigrant and refugee communities.
The task force also hopes that some of the strategies in their plan will be useful in future public health emergencies.