TY - JOUR
T1 - The Health Education and Training (HEAT) Corps
T2 - A Medical–Community Collaboration Response during the COVID-19 Pandemic
AU - Galiatsatos, Panagis
AU - Jones, Vanya
AU - Bryan, Jacqueline
AU - Brown, Meghan
AU - Banks, Olivia
AU - Martin, Brittany
AU - Collins, Megan
AU - Ling, Catherine
AU - Levin, Mindi B.
AU - Johnson, Audrey
AU - Wilson, Alicia
AU - Anderson, Annette
N1 - Funding Information:
The HEAT Corps training and curriculum began as a local response to a community request and need. It evolved into a sustaining, multidisciplinary initiative. During the first two years, HEAT training reached 148 schools, over 300 classrooms, and approximately 13,230 students in the K–12th grades. HEAT has presented in 19 states and the District of Columbia, as well as in six countries (Sudan, Guatemala, Cyprus, Canada, Panama, and India). The team has facilitated workshops and town halls in both English and Spanish. The curriculum has been taught by 167 volunteers. This initiative began as an all-volunteer effort by the faculty and administrators as well as instructors. As HEAT evolved, seed financial support was received from the university’s President’s office, and grants are continually being issued.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 by the authors.
PY - 2023/2
Y1 - 2023/2
N2 - With the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020, many elements of society were faced with attempting to assimilate public health recommendations for infectious control. Vital social organizations had to balance delivering their social services while attempting to stay up to date with COVID-19 information and comply with evolving regulations. In the realm of schools and school systems, guidance on how to best adapt to COVID-19 was often limited. School officials and staff had to assist with multiple public health crises as a consequence of the pandemic, from the pandemic’s transmission prevention strategies (e.g., face masks and physical distancing) to the recognition that students would have personal tragedies related to COVID-19. In this review, we highlight the process and feasibility of implementing an international COVID-19 school-based initiative over two years of the pandemic, the Health Education and Training (HEAT) Corps program.
AB - With the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020, many elements of society were faced with attempting to assimilate public health recommendations for infectious control. Vital social organizations had to balance delivering their social services while attempting to stay up to date with COVID-19 information and comply with evolving regulations. In the realm of schools and school systems, guidance on how to best adapt to COVID-19 was often limited. School officials and staff had to assist with multiple public health crises as a consequence of the pandemic, from the pandemic’s transmission prevention strategies (e.g., face masks and physical distancing) to the recognition that students would have personal tragedies related to COVID-19. In this review, we highlight the process and feasibility of implementing an international COVID-19 school-based initiative over two years of the pandemic, the Health Education and Training (HEAT) Corps program.
KW - COVID-19
KW - community engagement
KW - curriculum
KW - health equity
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85147800387&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85147800387&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/ijerph20031829
DO - 10.3390/ijerph20031829
M3 - Article
C2 - 36767198
AN - SCOPUS:85147800387
SN - 1661-7827
VL - 20
JO - International journal of environmental research and public health
JF - International journal of environmental research and public health
IS - 3
M1 - 1829
ER -