The Response
Prioritizing high-risk communities on a state-wide level allowed the local HEZ infrastructure to kick into gear. Within days of the first cases of COVID, the community stood up an Incident Command System and Beat COVID-19 Task Force. This organization, supported by LISC Rhode Island and members of the HEZ collaborative, met virtually on a weekly basis to share key metrics and discuss solutions to challenges. This heightened level of collaboration in the face of mounting challenges resulted in tailored interventions to benefit community residents.
For example, pre-pandemic toll-free information phone lines did not offer robust multi-lingual and interpreter services, so the Beat COVID Task Force helped create a PCF HEZ specific toll-free line to provide information in multiple languages. This was facilitated by Collette, a travel company headquartered in Pawtucket, and staffed by HEZ members and volunteers from the community. By April 2020, Collette had transitioned its existing call center used for travel sales to become the COVID-19 hot line for Pawtucket and Central Falls. The requests for help -- food, supplies, transportation, information, and other resources, were forwarded on to the YMCA-managed Street Teams and other groups providing support. The data from these calls were aggregated to help inform local support initiatives and relayed back to RIDOH.
This prioritization also led the way to expanded testing and vaccination clinics. The Incident Command Center was notified by RIDOH about a local pharmacist that wanted to help vaccinate residents. Dr. Eugenio Fernandez, a Pharmacist with a store-front pharmacy in a neighboring community, worked with the HEZ to more than double the opportunities for testing and vaccination in Pawtucket and Central Falls. He was able to address hesitancy and stigma around vaccines and he took the time to debunk myths.
Another key response was managed through the YMCA. With street-level hot-spot data coming in from RIDOH and requests coming through the hotline, the YMCA responded to that need by coordinating Street Teams that would distribute information, PPE, food and cleaning supplies to residents. This enabled the canvassers to conduct wellness checks and understand additional needs. Multilingual teams would work together to deliver support, and forge relationships with residents.
By the end of 2022, the HEZ collaborative had distributed more than 500,000 masks, provided more than 400,500 meals, and received more than 80,000 Beat COVID calls through the Collette Beat Covid Hotline. The collaborative, led by partners at the YMCA, had spent more than 2,000 hours canvassing the neighborhoods and providing information around testing and vaccine clinics, and distributing emergency food and cleaning supplies. The team distributed 26,700 tests and 1,135 testing kits to families and businesses in the community.