Cleveland's Community Health Center COVID Services Collaborative – comprised of Asia, Inc., Care Alliance, Circle Health / The Centers, Neighborhood Family Practice, Northeast Ohio Neighborhood Health Services, and Signature Health – has been working to boost vaccination rates in underserved communities. Local community health centers have brought vaccinations to a variety of community settings including churches, schools, Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) facilities, low-income senior housing, and area nonprofits.

Better Health's data dashboard has helped to inform the Collaborative's decisions about ZIP codes and locations to target for vaccination efforts. Better Health is grateful for the opportunity to partner with the community health centers and others to continue to find ways to boost vaccination rates and ensure protection for everyone in the community.

To access the data dashboard, click here.

Better Health is proud to welcome Ashwini Sehgal, MD as Climate Change and Health Researcher to lead our collaborative efforts with health systems in Northeast Ohio to reduce their carbon footprint and improve climate related health outcomes.

Dr. Sehgal is the inaugural Director of Research and Evaluation for the Institute for H.O.P.E.™ in the Population Health Innovation Institute (PHII) at The MetroHealth System. He is also the Duncan Neuhauser Professor of Community Health Improvement and Co-Director of the Center for Reducing Health Disparities at Case Western Reserve University.

Welcome aboard!

The S.T.O.P. COVID Cleveland initiative, a program sponsored by UnitedHealth Group, offered no-cost COVID-19 testing to address healthcare disparities in at-risk communities. Cleveland was selected as 1 of 6 locations nationwide to close the gaps in testing in communities of color. Better Health Partnership was proud to partner with UnitedHealth Group, Greater Cleveland Congregations (GCC), Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), and other community stakeholders to implement this community initiative.

Testing locations operated from December 3rd through December 30th, 2020 and the program produced many highlights worth reporting:

• Total test administered: 3504
• Total # of COVID-positive tests: 594 (15.6%)
• Most commonly reported symptoms: cough, headache, sore throat

In addition to the no-cost COVID-19 testing, the 3 test sites at Lee Memorial AME Church, Elizabeth Baptist Church, and Lee Road Baptist Church also distributed roughly 2,000 food kits and more than 2,500 health, safety, and education kits.

We would like to thank our FQHC partners: Asian Services in Action, Care Alliance Health Center, Circle Health Services/The Centers, and Northeast Ohio Neighborhood Health Services for taking part in this important program. For more information on this inititiative please visit: https://communitystopcovid.com/