For 95 years the United Way of Wayne County has worked to connect resources to the needs of our community. The County has relied on UWWC for support during natural disasters, and most recently, during the COVID-19 pandemic, in partnership with the Wayne County Health Department.
The UWWC has entered into a contract with Curamericas Global, Inc. to hire three Community Healthcare Workers to support the innovative work of the Wayne County Health Department to reach the vulnerable population. The partnership between the Wayne County Health Department and the United Way of Wayne County involves promoting the importance of COVID-19 testing and testing sites, contact tracing, and case management for those testing positive with COVID-19 to ensure needs are being met for our most defenseless population.
Thanks to the support of Curamericas, UWWC will be able to increase our workload while connecting with members of the community and providing case-management to those in need of resources. A particular demographic focus is the LatinX and African American communities, as recognizing the infection, hospitalizing, case mortality and economic impact far exceeds their proportion of the population. Currently, African Americans represent 22 percent of the state’s total population, but 23 percent of COVID-19 cases and 30 percent of deaths. The Hispanic population represents 35 percent of cases and 10 percent of deaths, while only making up 9.6 percent of the state’s populations.
“These local Community Healthcare Workers will soon serve as allies to families who have not received the support needed to navigate this global health emergency,” said Andrew Herrera, Executive Director of Curamericas Global. “Healthcare Workers will connect individuals to vital resources and information, allowing them to receive access to care they desperately need, food resources to feed their families or support for employment.”
Curamericas, a recipient of the NC Department of Health and Human Services, Support Services, Community Healthcare Workers grant, is working with 25 counties across the state. “We are grateful to partner alongside this professional organization to meet the needs of our community in a stronger way,” said Sherry Archibald, Executive Director.
