Tag: COVID

Managing NYC death reporting from the epicenter of a pandemic: COVID-19 in Spring 2020

Course Objective

  • Describe the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS)
  • Describe the process and parties involved in registering a death.
  • Describe the operational, and other, factors that make timely, accurate registration of death possible
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Date: October 5th, 2021

Presenter:
Gretchen Van Wye, PhD, MA
Assistant Commissioner & City Registrar
New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYCDOHMH)
Bureau of Vital Statistics, Division of Epidemiology

In this month’s Log-in2Learn webinar, Gretchen Van Wye, PhD, MA, discusses the challenges and importance of increased death reporting during the COVID-19 pandemic. She begins by recognizing death registration both as a fundamental right of persons, as well as instrumental to monitoring disease outbreaks. She highlights the contextual obstacles of the beginning of the pandemic, which was marked by initial denial and limited testing, but followed a geometric progression and the corresponding response needed. She then explains how death registration works in New York City, and shares the NYDOHMH’s plan to respond to its increased need, including staff, system, policy, and data changes.

Participants will learn about the following:

  1. Describe the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS)
  2. Describe the process and parties involved in registering a death.
  3. Describe the operational, and other, factors that make timely, accurate registration of death possible
State changes to alcohol availability during COVID-19: What can state/local public health departments do to protect communities’ health?

Course Objective

  • Describe trends in alcohol use and related harms over the last two decades.
  • Explain state level changes to alcohol availability during the pandemic.
  • Summarize state and local public health strategies to curtail industry sponsored efforts to increase in alcohol availability to protect population level harms.
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Date: May 4th 2021

Presenter:
Sean J. Haley, PhD, MPH
Asst. Professor of Health Policy and Management
City University of New York’s Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy

In this month’s Log-in2Learn webinar, Sean J. Haley, PhD, MPH, addresses the alarming increase in alcohol availability and consumption over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. He starts by providing context to the state of Alcohol Use Disorders amongst the U.S. population over the years. In detail, he then discusses the changes in attitudes and behaviors towards alcohol as the pandemic began to worsen and stay-at-home orders were placed. He highlights the unique characteristics of this increased consumption, identifying individual, social and structural factors. Dr. Haley makes sure to emphasize that this is not a temporary problem and substantiates his statement with research from past disasters, decade long trends and industry motivations. He then switches to what can be done to control this problem. He walks us through the many action steps, at varying levels, that can be taken by state and local public health departments in order to protect communities’ health.

Participants will learn the following:

  1. Describe trends in alcohol use and related harms over the last two decades.
  2. Explain state level changes to alcohol availability during the pandemic.
  3. Summarize state and local public health strategies to curtail industry sponsored efforts to increase in alcohol availability to protect population level harms.
The Challenge of Vaccine Hesitancy in the COVID Pandemic

Course Objective

  • Describe the continuum of vaccine acceptance and hesitancy
  • Identify the concerns that underlie hesitancy toward vaccination in general and COVID vaccination in particular 
  • Critique different approaches for achieving high uptake of COVID vaccines
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Date: March 2nd, 2021

Presenter:
James Colgrove, PhD, MPH
Professor of Sociomedical Sciences,
Columbia Mailman School of Public Health
Dean of the Postbac Premed Program,
Columbia School of General Studies

This month’s Log-in2learn webinar comes at an opportune time, in the midst of a national vaccine rollout. Our presenter, James Colgrove, PhD, MPH, covers everything you need to know about vaccine hesitancy in the U.S.. He starts off with a brief history of the roots of vaccine hesitancy in the country and explains how these views have developed into the spectrum that we see today. He then shifts his attention to the COVID-19 pandemic, discussing the available vaccine options, their development process and the public’s response to them. He carefully walks us through the different concerns regarding the vaccine and breaks down the demographic characteristics of each group. He lays a heavy emphasis on the need to address hesitancy using targeted strategies that meet the unique needs of each group. He shares a number of approaches to do this and highlights key messages that have been effective. He ends by reiterating the main challenges and the importance of addressing broken relationships and mistrust as we attempt to address vaccine hesitancy during COVID-19.

Participants will be able to:

  1. Describe the continuum of vaccine acceptance and hesitancy
  2. Identify the concerns that underlie hesitancy toward vaccination in general and COVID vaccination in particular 
  3. Critique different approaches for achieving high uptake of COVID vaccines
Buprenorphine Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Course Objective

  • Explain regulatory updates regarding buprenorphine treatment during a public health emergency
  • Describe practice-level changes in buprenorphine treatment throughout COVID-19
  • Discuss common issues affecting patients in buprenorphine treatment during COVID-19
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Date: July 7th, 2020

Presenter:
Tiffany Lu, MD, MS
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Montefiore Medical Center / Albert Einstein School of Medicine

In this month’s Log-in2Learn Dr. Tiffany Lu provides an overview of buprenorphine treatment prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges associated with treatment for opioid use disorder during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Lu describes the communities hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and how the pandemic paved the way for regulation updates regarding buprenorphine treatment such as reduced restrictions and an increased use of telemedicine to treat opioid use disorders. The webinar also addresses some other measures put in place with buprenorphine treatment due to the public health emergency, including: longer prescriptions, halted urine drug testing (self reports), access to naloxone and harm reduction supplies. The presenter also shares available resources to support clinical providers as they face the challenges associated with buprenorphine treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Participants will be able to:

  1. Explain regulatory updates regarding buprenorphine treatment during a public health emergency
  2. Describe practice-level changes in buprenorphine treatment throughout COVID-19
  3. Discuss common issues affecting patients in buprenorphine treatment during COVID-19
COVID-19: Where are we and Where are we going

Course Objective

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Date: May 5, 2020

Presenter:
Wafaa M. El-Sadr, MD, MPH, MPA
Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine at Columbia University,
Director of ICAP at Columbia University,
Director of the Global Health Initiative at the Mailman School of Public Health

In this month’s Log-in2Learn Dr. Wafaa M. El-Sadr presents an overview of the epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). Current statistics (as at the day of the webinar) show that racial/ethnic background, age and the presence of comorbidities lead to severity of outcomes. Participants are informed about known modes of transmission (droplets and contact) and the development process of future vaccines is discussed. Participants will understand the impacts of COVID-19 on the health system including a decrease in health services. As knowledge of COVID-19 continues to evolve, easing of mitigation measures needs to be done carefully to sustain progress that has been made.

After the webinar, participants will be able to:

  1. List key milestones in the spread of COVID-19
  2. Identify where New York City/NYS is in relation to the Whitehouse’s Guidelines for Opening Up America Again
  3. Describe what is being forecast for the next 6 months in relation to COVID-19
COVID19: Using a Health Equity and Human Rights Lens to Protect Vulnerable Populations during this Pandemic and Beyond

Course Objective

  • Discuss why COVID-19 is a health equity issue
  • Identify key principles of the health equity and human rights frameworks to protect vulnerable and marginalized populations during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond
  • Describe the role of community engagement and advocacy during this pandemic and beyond
  • List sample strategies for transformative and long-lasting change
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Date: April 7th, 2020

Presenter:
Renata Schiavo, PhD, MA, CCL
Senior Lecturer, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Department of Sociomedical Sciences
Founder and President, Board of Directors, Health Equity Initiative

In this month’s Log-in2Learn Webinar Dr. Renata Schiavo discusses the challenges faced during COVID-19 through a health equity lens. Pandemics are complex circumstances that thrive on inequalities and weak health and social systems. Vulnerable populations are not able to adequately adhere to safety measures and bear the burden of pandemic impacts. The webinar explores how a Social Determinants of Health approach should be implemented to address inequalities during a pandemic.The course also highlights risk communication, community engagement and advocacy as key strategies to support this agenda.

Participants will will be able to:

      1. Discuss why COVID-19 is a health equity issue
      2. Identify key principles of the health equity and human rights frameworks to protect vulnerable and marginalized populations during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond
      3. Describe the role of community engagement and advocacy during this pandemic and beyond
      4. List sample strategies for transformative and long-lasting change
Region 2 Public Health Training Center