COVID-19 and Underserved Local Communities' Advocacy toward Coordinated Access to Medical, Mental Health and Religious Care: A Strategic Plan of Action (1 CE)
Presenters: Christopher Cobb Rector, Ph.D., Eric Edwards, S.T.M., M.Div., Thomas Moushey, M.A.
3:30 PM - 4:30 PMWed
CE
Concurrent Session WEDNESDAY
Registration Required
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The current pandemic has highlighted the vulnerability of under-served racial and other communities in terms of medical vulnerability and the disparity of access to medical preventative resources, and medical treatment of COVID-19 for people of color and their communities.
With the expectations of an “extended” COVID-19 disease course, and the expectation of the “traditional” Influenza season in beginning this Fall, medical resources been stretched again, compounding the inequities of providing adequate medical health care to underserved communities. The expectation that social and political unrest will continue seems reasonable. It appears that the COVID-19 disease course moves faster than our current social, political and medical institutions can respond. The current response appears uncoordinated.
To increase response rate of equitable access to medical care of COVID-19 and Influenza, the scope of advocacy-toward-access will need to be focused and coordinated at the local community level, where local community institutions, indeed at the neighborhood level, can more quickly exercise their human resources for responsive, equitable health care, including mental health and spiritual care. This proposed COVID-19 and health care advocacy strategy at the local community level is identified as a Tri-Partite collaboration and action oriented advocacy between mental health care professionals, medical providers, and the local religious and spiritual institutions indigenous within a local community. All three provide crucial care, with each providing specialized care relative to each other to create a synergistic focus, momentum and effect in providing more holistic care to their community members. Mental Health Care providers are seen in this strategy as crucial leaders and partners in making this strategy happen. There is often overlap in their knowledge and contacts to reach out to local medical and religious providers. The ethics are around Justice; Pro-Bono care will be the cornerstone of their initial leadership and advocacy in organizing.
This will not be easy, nor initially quick. There continues to be a “gulf” between Mental Health care providers and religious leaders in coordinating their efforts to holistically help congregations. Both stakeholders tend to have different bases of belief in what constitutes Truth in their practices. These “gulfs” can also be a strength. Each stakeholder-provider has expertise in providing humanitarian-based care through specialized training and practice. The combination of these strengths will be their combined leverage in providing more equitable and timely care of services to their local community members.
A specific model (and implementation options) of how this strategy may be enacted will be discussed by the presenters, with each presenter coming from at least one the three preceding specialties.
Learning Objectives
Participants will be able to:
1. Describe the overall advocacy model presented, including framework, and roles of the three stakeholder-health care provider-institutions to be involved.
2. Identify and design specific plans of execution of this model within the attendee’s local community of practice.
3. Identify and design specific plans of execution of this model within the attendee’s local community of practice regarding at least two specific potential collaborators to contact/recruit.
4. Describe at least two barriers between mental health practitioners and religious leaders to address when implementing this model.
5. Identify, list, describe at least two ways to address the barriers mental health practitioners and religious leaders to address when implementing this model.