*Healthy Savannah Prepares for Summer COVID Surge, Offers a Public Listening Session March 22 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Penn Ave Resource Center event to be co-presented by the Savannah Chapter of the Links, Inc., with funding for education and training by the Center for Black Health.
(Savannah, Ga.) The Center for Black Health & Equity has awarded Healthy Savannah $15,000 to provide and support vaccine access in advance of an anticipated COVID-19 summer surge.
“The historic Summer Covid surge necessitates vigilance around the disease to avoid a spike like those we’ve experienced in the past,” said Gregory Bolden, program manager of the Center’s Community Initiatives. “The Center saw an opportunity here in Savannah to align our objectives with a similar program offered by Healthy Savannah.”
The Center is known as a leading nationally recognized public health entity that provides solutions to issues impacting African American health.
“After getting through the seasonal flu and COVID season over the winter, the last thing many people want to think about is another wave of COVID, especially as school gets underway, said Nichele Hoskins, Adult Immunization Program manager. “But cases will likely rise again this summer and Healthy Savannah wants to help you prepare for it.”
Healthy Savannah has scheduled an in-person public listening session from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 22, at the Pennsylvania Avenue Resource Center. The event, with support from the Center’s grant, will be presented by the Savannah (Ga.) Chapter of the Links, Inc., one of the nation’s oldest and largest volunteer service organizations committed to enriching, sustaining, and ensuring the culture and economic survival of African Americans and other people of African ancestry.
“We’ll have Black and Hispanic medical experts there to answer questions about vaccine safety and efficacy,” said Denise Cooper, VP, the Links. “There may be questions about how and why those affected by the Texas measles outbreak in which one child died were not vaccinated and whether that could happen here.”
The listening session will also provide a non-judgmental platform for discussing the experiences, perceptions, and concerns related to vaccine access, awareness, and acceptance.
“We are inviting you and your family, friends and co-workers to join the conversation,” said Hoskins. “Anyone who can relate to the health inequities that Black and Hispanic Savannahians experience has a seat at this table.”
In a follow-up to the listening session, Healthy Savannah will offer an online training session in April for those wishing to become Community Health Advocates. This will be the ninth cohort focused on adult vaccine equity offered since Healthy Savannah launched the program in 2021 with support from a CDC Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) supplemental grant first awarded in 2020 and renewed in 2023. To date, Healthy Savannah has trained more than 100 community members interested in advancing health equity and awareness of vaccine-preventable diseases in the Savannah area.
Anyone interested in joining the conversation to advance health equity by attending the listening session or training to become a CHA may register by emailing CHAadmin@healthysavannah.org. Those who complete the Community Health Advocate training requirements are eligible to receive a $500 stipend.
While COVID-19 is no longer a national public health emergency, the CDC estimates that, from October 2024 through February 2025, there have been 6.4 million – 11.5 million COVID-19 illnesses; 1.5 million – 2.7 million COVID-19 outpatient visits; 180,000 – 310,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations and 22,000-37,000 COVID-19 deaths.
ABOUT THE YMCA OF COASTAL GEORGIA/HEALTHY SAVANNAH GRANT FOR RACIAL AND ETHNIC APPROACHES TO COMMUNITY HEALTH: In September 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention awarded a second grant called Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) to Healthy Savannah and the YMCA of Coastal Georgia. $5.1 million in funding is being deployed over a five-year period to be utilized in an “upstream” approach to foster sustainable health equity among racial and ethnic minority populations in low-wealth neighborhoods in areas of nutrition, physical activity and the reduction of chronic diseases. The renewed funding enables work to continue which began under the initial, five-year, $3.4 million REACH grant awarded in 2018, and a supplemental grant awarded in 2021 to increase awareness and acceptance of COVID-19 and flu adult immunizations. Working with more than 200 community partners and organizations, the Savannah/Chatham County project team’s specific goals in implementing the new five-year grant include fostering physical activity by creating greater access to safe places to walk, run, bike and play; elevating the health and wellness of the community through policy, systems, and environmental change; and providing education and awareness regarding adult immunizations, especially as they relate to health disparities in chronic conditions of hypertension, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and obesity. The administrators will also continue to foster stronger connections between people and the healthcare providers who serve them by supporting awareness and use of the HERO Help Me database. In July 2022, Healthy Savannah received the CDC’s 2022 REACH Lark Galloway-Gilliam Award for Advancing Health Equity Challenge. The award recognizes extraordinary individuals and entities whose work has contributed to advancing health equity.
healthysavannah.org ymcaofcoastalga.org.
MEDIA CONTACT
Marjorie Young
Carriage Trade Public Relations® Inc.
912.844.9990
www.carriagetradepr.com
marjorie@carriagetradepr.com
Source link: https://www.cdc.gov/covid/php/surveillance/burden-estimates.html
MEDIA CONTACT
Marjorie Young
Carriage Trade Public Relations® Inc.
912.844.9990
www.carriagetradepr.com
marjorie@carriagetradepr.com
Source link: https://www.cdc.gov/covid/php/surveillance/burden-estimates.html
