New Jersey
Transforming primary health care
PIH-US began working with Newark’s Department of Health and Community Wellness during the city’s COVID-19 response. We supported the health department as they calculated workforce needs; monitored and analyzed test positivity rates; developed guidance on response and reopening policies; and launched a care resource coordination team that connected individuals in isolation and quarantine to food, childcare, counseling, and other services. To increase confidence in the COVID-19 vaccine, we worked alongside community-based organizations to deploy trusted messengers and brought vaccines directly to residents by facilitating a mobile vaccine program that offered static and pop-up vaccination clinics.
COVID-19 has reinforced the city’s existing commitments to expand access to community-based health and social services. To support this transformation in primary care, we are working alongside the Department of Health and Community Wellness to identify and aggregate data on health services as well as the social determinants of health, which will help decision makers better understand and address inequities across the city. This insight will inform both how to design and where to deploy interventions, including mobile health services.
Supported Newark’s Department of Health and Wellness to apply for and receive a $3.8M grant to build software and staff capacity that will allow the health department to improve data analysis.
Created a dashboard that includes more than 50 metrics on health and social outcomes that city leaders are using to make more data-driven decisions about resource allocations.
Surveyed 62 community and health organizations to better understand the scope of the City’s community health workforce.
