Springfield-Greene County Health Dept. addresses disparities in COVID-19 response
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (Edited News Release/KY3) - The Springfield-Greene County Health Department received a $574,599 grant from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services to expand efforts to address health disparities caused by COVID-19.
With this additional funding, the department will implement expanded testing and vaccination opportunities among high-risk and underserved populations in Greene County.
“So what that means is we’re insuring that we can provide access for racial and ethnic minorities, people who live in rural areas and people who might otherwise have low access to healthcare services,” said Aaron Schekorra, the Public Health Information Administrator for the health department.
In 2021, approximately 42% of Health Department vaccine clinics provided underserved and high-risk populations in Greene County access to the vaccine. With this expansion, the Health Department can continue its work to advance health equity and social determinants of health-related to COVID-19. By continuing to partner with the Springfield-Greene County Library system, holding community vaccination and testing events at trusted and convenient sites, and creating additional health promotional activities, the Health Department will increase vaccine and testing access for individuals experiencing barriers such as:
- Insufficient access.
- Low health literacy.
- Lack of broadband access.
- Being uninsured or underinsured.
- Experiencing a disability.
- Lack of transportation.
- Inability to take time away from work.
These barriers have disproportionately affected rural residents and racial and ethnic minority groups living in Greene County, particularly when it comes to receiving life-saving healthcare.
The lack of broadband is something most of us wouldn’t consider as a barrier to COVID-19 care but national studies have shown that people with little-or-no access to the internet are more likely to get COVID-19 and less likely to get vaccinated.
“We’re seeing, especially in our rural communities where there is that lower access to reliable internet, that they simply may not know where to go (to get information and care) and the only things they may be hearing are the word-of-mouth pieces of misinformation that have convinced them to not even consider getting vaccinated,” Schekorra explained.
On Tuesday Greene County’s 7-day average was just 12 cases (below 2021′s lowest average of 16) with 32 COVID-19 patients in the county’s hospitals.
“That doesn’t necessarily mean COVID-19 is over,” Schekorra pointed out. “We don’t really know what’s coming down the pipeline. We may not experience another surge like we saw with Omicron. But times like right now when cases are low are crucial towards preparing for the next variant in our community because we don’t know what that variant is going to look like.”
But while the number of cases and hospitalizations are way down, the vaccination rate in Greene County has been stuck at the 50-54 percent level (percent of population 5-and-over that’s fully vaccinated) for quite a while.
That’s far below the health department’s goal of 70 percent but it’s hoped the money from this grant will lead to more people choosing to get the shot.
“We find hope in those stories of people who are getting their first dose now,” Schekorra said. “If we had packed it up and called it a day they never would have been vaccinated because what has caused them to take that step has been the incentives and education that we’re still continuing to offer throughout our community with funding from the CDC and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.”
For information about upcoming vaccine and testing events, visit Vaccine417.com, COVIDTesting417.com, or call the COVID-19 Call Center at 417-874-1211.
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