HJNO Mar/Apr 2021

30 MAR / APR 2021  I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS   Healthcare Briefs The Louisiana Department of Health, Immuni- zation Section states that “An important point to note is while there is an obvious need to improve childhood Immunizations, many if not most adults are unaware of the need for immunization based on their age, lifestyle, and health conditions.” Sen. Bill Cassidy is initiating two pieces of leg- islation that would require the coverage of vac- cines during pregnancy and for states to improve vaccination rates, which could prevent not only illness but millions of people being hospitalized for vaccine-preventable diseases and thousands of deaths. The Louisiana Department of Health started a campaign called “Phase Out COVID” to encour- age individuals to take the COVID-19 vaccine. The Northlake-Mandeville Rotary SURE-SHOT ini- tiative will complement that program by encour- aging citizens to receive or update all routine vaccines by reaching out through a local com- munity effort. Cowen Institute Receives Kresge Foundation Grant to Support Mental Health of College Students The Cowen Institute at Tulane University has been awarded a grant by The Kresge Foundation to support a “NOLA Mental Health and Wellness Pilot” program for New Orleans college students. The grant will fund a partnership between the mental health app MetaPro, and post-secondary focused organizations College Beyond, College Track, and the Cowen Institute to provide high quality mental health services to college students in those programs. “The COVID-19 public health crisis has exac- erbated barriers faced by college students, in particular students from historically marginalized populations. Many of the students who partici- pate in College Beyond, College Track, and the Cowen Institute’s programs have directly expe- rienced the pandemic’s devastating impacts through illness, death of family members, unem- ployment, and lack of access to resources. Mental health support is needed now more than ever,” said Amanda Kruger Hill, Cowen Institute exec- utive director. “We are grateful for the Kresge Foundation’s generous support, which makes this initiative possible.” New Orleans is a focus city for Kresge, and the foundation’s education program seeks to increase college access and success while reducing ineq- uitable outcomes. Sound mental health and well- ness are important components of student suc- cess. Through this grant, college students will be able to access mental health services and connect directly with counselors and therapists for support through an app on their phone. The Cowen Institute, while maintaining partici- pants’ privacy, will analyze how students interact with mental health services via the app and share findings with the college attainment ecosystems both in New Orleans and nationally. Through its New Orleans College Persistence Collaborative, the Cowen Institute will foster awareness of men- tal health and wellness resources and program- ming with college persistence practitioners from around the city. “As an organization focused on improving col- lege completion through addressing trauma and social-emotional health, we are excited to bring this resource to our students. Optimal mental health is essential for academic success and ulti- mately college success. MetaPro provides a prac- tical solution to longstanding barriers in connect- ing college students with quick access to mental health services,” said Erin Wheeler, College Beyond executive director. “The pandemic has been difficult for everyone, but low-income, minority communities in New Orleans have been hit especially hard. Our stu- dents have lost family members, including grand- parents who served as their primary guardians, and some have needed to take on long hours at work to support their families while attempt- ing to balance virtual schooling. For some of our students, physically attending college provided a refuge from a chaotic home life or community vio- lence, offering housing security, stable internet, a quiet space to complete homework assignments, and a promised meal. The loss of that has placed an immense emotional strain on them. Mental health plays a pivotal role in the work we do with students and this partnership with will hopefully eliminate some of the barriers to access that our students face when seeking out much-needed, high-quality mental health services,” said Clara Baron-Hyppolite, site director of College Track New Orleans. Louisiana launches COVID Defense Mobile App Gov. John Bel Edwards announced the launch of COVID Defense, Louisiana’s exposure notifica- tion mobile application for Google and Android phones to slow the spread of COVID-19. Louisianans can now receive notifications informing them if there is a risk that they were exposed to someone who has tested positive for the virus. Use of the technology is completely vol- untary, private, and secure. COVID Defense does not collect the location of a phone or individual to detect exposure, and it does not share a user’s identity. App users must opt in to use the tool and may opt out at any time. No personal information is required to use the app. “In the last few weeks, we’ve seen staggering numbers in terms of deaths and cases and those numbers should give us pause. Last week we also reported our first case of the more contagious UK variant of COVID,” said Gov. Edwards. “Until the majority of the general public has received the COVID vaccine, we cannot let up and will need to lean on every other tool available to us. COVID Defense adds another tool to our toolkit to slow the spread of this dangerous virus.” COVID Defense can be downloaded in the iPhone App Store or Android Google Play Store. When COVID Defense is voluntarily activated, the tool uses Bluetooth technology to exchange random tokens between phones without reveal- ing the user’s identity or location. To help ensure these random tokens can’t be used to identify you or your location, they change every 10-20 minutes. On a daily basis, an individual’s mobile phone will download a list of all the anonymous tokens associated with positive COVID-19 cases and checks them against the list of anonymous tokens it has encountered in the last 14 days. If there’s a match, the app will notify you with further instruc- tions on how to keep you and the people around you safe. “Louisiana’s free, easy-to-use phone app will give our residents the information they need to fight COVID-19 and protect their loved ones with- out compromising anyone’s privacy,” said Court- ney N. Phillips, MD, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health. “Like wearing a mask, washing our hands, and social distancing, COVID