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Providing Equitable Access During the Covid-19 Pandemic with Eric Parrie, CEO of COVIDCheck Colorado
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The InOn Health podcast premiere features Eric Parrie, an educator, social entrepreneur, and CEO of COVIDCheck Colorado. Eric led CovidCheck through statewide testing and vaccination access initiatives throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. InOn Health partnered with COVIDCheck Colorado to support school communities and organizations, children, and their families while communicating news and services effectively.
KP and Eric discuss some of the significant influences during the pandemic, addressing the roles of public health, community organizing, and health equity—all contributing factors to overcoming the virus and providing a path forward in healthcare. Eric provides insight into confronting health inequities, which requires trust, partnerships, and relationships. COVIDCheck Colorado adapted to the needs of vulnerable communities by tailoring messaging that made testing, tracing, and vaccination more available, accessible, and convenient.
Eric reveals how COVIDCheck Colorado started from the ground-up at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, primarily developing and measuring equity metrics. After gathering data, the organization implemented two goals: 1) increase testing volume, 2) provide testing to most vulnerable individuals/communities. Eric explains the metrics that define high-risk, which is more than a question of race, poverty, and health history—it is ultimately an intersection of all three. As the ultimate goal is herd immunity, it is strongly dependent on community health, which varies and relies on the overall action and vaccination rate of communities, neighborhoods, and counties.
The Covid-19 pandemic has created a generational impact in serving communities, acknowledging inequity and health, resulting in increased action and commitment on individual levels. For example, Eric reveals that there are record-number applications for medical school and public health education. As technology will be an influential factor in the future of healthcare, it will not be the ultimate solution until there is an effective balance between the two aspects of public health— 1) health, science, and research, 2) showing up and listening to people’s stories.
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