Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare was recently awarded a COVID-19 Response Team and Emergency Response Grant in the amount of $499,981 provided by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The grant will allow Cascadia to outreach to vulnerable and hard-to-reach community members around the COVID-19 education, testing, and vaccinations as well as continue the array of medical services and clinical treatments clients need to maintain recovery and stability.

Continued mitigation of COVID-19 and its effects on our community is especially crucial for Cascadia and the people we serve. Many of Cascadia’s clients are at increased risk of infection and COVID-19 related mortality, and have the least access to vaccination, testing and treatment. In addition to facing mental health challenges, many Cascadia clients face significant health disparities, including but not limited to poverty, homelessness, co-occurring chronic health issues, trauma histories and limited access to services.

Cascadia is committed to continuing to serve our community’s vulnerable populations by ensuring access to whole health care. Since the onset of the pandemic in March of 2020, Cascadia’s COVID-19 response team has established and implemented policies and procedures regarding testing, infection control and management, vaccination administration, PPE (Personal Protective Equipment), community health outreach and much more.

Among other efforts to both continue and expand its COVID-19 response work, Cascadia plans to use resources from the grant to purchase a mobile medical van for the Covid Response Team. The van is designed to be used as a mobile clinic, with an exam room and lab area. The van will have wi-fi connectivity for digital images along with real-time documentation and telemedicine consultation with physicians.

The Covid Response Team will use the van to outreach, educate, triage, manage exposures and outbreaks, mobilize testing and vaccinations, and increase community and street outreach work. The van will allow Cascadia to meet people where they are, where they are comfortable and where they feel safest.

The grant will also help fund other aspects of Cascadia’s continued COVID-19 efforts:

• COVID-19 Vaccination Capacity — Support to plan, prepare for, promote, distribute, administer, and track COVID-19 vaccines, and carry out other vaccine-related activities, including outreach and education.
• COVID-19 Response and Treatment Capacity – Support to detect, diagnose, trace, monitor, and treat COVID-19 infections and related activities necessary to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
• Maintaining and Increasing Capacity – Support to establish, modify, enhance, expand, and sustain the accessibility and availability of comprehensive primary care services to meet the ongoing and evolving needs of service areas and vulnerable patient populations.
• Recovery and Stabilization – Support for ongoing recovery and stabilization, including enhancing and expanding the health care workforce and services to meet heightened demand, as well as address the behavioral health, chronic conditions, and other needs of those who have been out of care.

The COVID-19 Response Team is led by Cascadia’s Senior Director of Primary Care, Mick N., and a team of Cascadia staff including nurses and medical providers, community outreach workers, and support specialists. The grant begins July 2021 and extends through June 2023.