The Great Divide: Impacts of Covid-19
“If COVID has taken one thing away from us it has definitely been our home.” Charlotte Richardson, 29, of Palmdale, CA expressed in regard to the direct impact Covid-19 has on her life. For many, this may be a familiar experience they too are undergoing due to the impact. Through many failed attempts at trying to get people to share their own personal experiences with this pandemic, there is one thing they all have in common: they are in need of help.
Working in a primary care health facility, I see many people of all backgrounds that seek medical attention in our facility. While some may be assigned to us due to their insurance plan, some are not insured at all. Programs like the Sliding Fee Scale which covers our adult patients will cover them at any of our 3 locations for up to a year. It is dependent on the patient’s income so if they make above the qualifying income, they would have the option to pay for all of their visits. After that, they have the option to reapply again once it expires. For children we offer CHDP ( Child Health and Disability Prevention) that’ll cover any child ranging from a newborn to 19 years old for up to one month. This particular program acts as a gateway to enroll children into medical as long as the parent is diligent in enrolling said child once they receive the medical enrollment packet in the mail. Programs like these are put forth to advocate for the health of the patient and give them support. This is not supported at every health care facility, however.
Since I was only able to get only one direct answer from a patient, I want to interview those in both the Audit and Eligibility departments as they would know the actual amount of patients who are covered and are not. Then, I will compare these statistics with the overall number of who is insured in Los Angeles as opposed to The Antelope Valley as a whole. The sources I will be using are the ones used for the community data project, as well as articles that are contingent on what I am discussing. I feel that the data that would best support the overall goal of my piece would be divided by race/ethnicity and age. The article that is attached to the group discussion is one that I am eager to use as it gives a break down of the growing rate of people who reside in lower-income communities as opposed to wealthier areas. Although those who reside in wealthy communities have been reported to have been infected with the virus at large rates, not nearly as many have died from the infection as much as those in poor communities. My main goal for this portion is to gather analysis of how the underprivileged community in my city is at a disadvantage, especially during this crisis.
When searching through the local news, it appears that only things that are related to fatal tragedies are reported the most. There is not much representation of anything pertaining to the lower-income communities during this pandemic in any of the articles I have seen thus far.
As mentioned prior, I will be using the data I used on the Community Data article. The two charts I will be using are the ones below.
I have not taken any photos as of yet, however, I was given permission to take some of my job which is the healthcare facility that will be the main focus. I will also be using information given on the website:
