Mental Health Community and Health System Issues in COVID-19: Lessons from Academic, Community, Provider and Policy Stakeholders.

Mental Health Community and Health System Issues in COVID-19: Lessons from Academic, Community, Provider and Policy Stakeholders. Ethn Dis. 2020;30(4):695-700 Authors: Arevian AC, Jones F, Moore EM, Goodsmith N, Aguilar-Gaxiola S, Ewing T, Siddiq H, Lester P, Cheung E, Ijadi-Maghsoodi R, Gabrielian S, Sugarman OK, Bonds C, Benitez C, Innes-Gomberg D, Springgate B, Haywood C, Meyers D, Sherin JE, Wells K Abstract The coronavirus pandemic of 2019 (COVID-19) has created unprecedented changes to everyday life for millions of Americans due to job loss, school closures, stay-at-home orders and health and mortality consequences. In turn, physicians, academics, and policymakers have turned their attention to the public mental health toll of COVID-19. This commentary reporting from the field integrates perceptions of academic, community, health system, and policy leaders from state, county, and local levels in commenting on community mental health needs in the COVID-19 pandemic. Stakeholders noted the broad public health scope of mental health challenges while expressing concern about exacerbation of existing disparities in access and adverse social determinants, including for communities with high COVID-19 infection rates, such as African Americans and Latinos. They noted rapid changes toward telehealth and remote care, and the importance of understanding impacts of changes, including who may benefit or have limited access, with implicati...
Source: Ethnicity and Disease - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Tags: Ethn Dis Source Type: research