The Health Education and Training (HEAT) Corps: A Medical-Community Collaboration Response during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Panagis Galiatsatos; Vanya Jones; Jacqueline Bryan; Meghan Brown; Olivia Banks; Brittany Martin; Megan Collins; Catherine Ling; Mindi B Levin; Audrey Johnson; Alicia Wilson; Annette Anderson

doi:10.3390/ijerph20031829

The Health Education and Training (HEAT) Corps: A Medical-Community Collaboration Response during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Jan 19;20(3):1829. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20031829.

Authors

Panagis Galiatsatos^{1

2

3}, Vanya Jones⁴, Jacqueline Bryan⁵, Meghan Brown⁵, Olivia Banks⁵, Brittany Martin⁵, Megan Collins⁶, Catherine Ling⁷, Mindi B Levin^{4

8}, Audrey Johnson⁵, Alicia Wilson⁵, Annette Anderson⁹

Affiliations

¹ Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
² Medicine for the Greater Good, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
³ Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Health Equity, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
⁴ Health, Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
⁵ Office for Economic Development and Community Partnerships, Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Health System, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
⁶ Wilmer Eye Institute, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
⁷ Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
⁸ SOURCE, The Community Engagement and Service-Learning Center, Johns Hopkins University Schools of Public Health, Nursing, and Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
⁹ Johns Hopkins School of Education, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.

Abstract

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.

Keywords: COVID-19; community engagement; curriculum; health equity.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

COVID-19* / epidemiology
COVID-19* / prevention & control
Health Education
Hot Temperature
Humans
Infection Control
Pandemics / prevention & control

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.