Since our founding, NashvilleHealth has been proud to help bring together public health practitioners and advocates, the non-profit community, business, healthcare providers and policy makers to address our city’s most pressing health needs, always with the goal of creating a healthier, equitable community. We are committed to racial justice and a healthier future for all Nashvillians. Conducting the city’s first health and well-being survey in 20 years, we work toward a better understanding of the health conditions and inequities our city faces. This is at the core of why our organization was created and we look forward to continuing this critical work with you.
Our NashvilleHealth e-news briefs will continue to examine the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on our city’s most vulnerable populations. Please share your work and ideas with us. Together, we will build a healthier Nashville.
In this Issue:
– COVID-19 and our LGBTQ community
– COVID-19 Heat Map
– Tracking COVID in Tennessee
– NashvilleHealth Hero
– Partner News
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, many among our population are being disproportionately affected, including the LGBTQ community. Recent studies show that greater than 50 percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Nashvillians live in the county’s COVID-19 hotspots. Our LGBTQ community is also being hit hard economically experiencing higher rates of job loss and wage reduction than the general population. The Human Rights Campaign reports 40 percent of the U.S. LGBTQ population works in industries hardest hit by the pandemic – retail, food service, hospitals and education – as compared to 22 percent of the non-LGBTQ population.
The Nashville Community Health + Well-being Survey surfaced critical data about the city’s health disparities and vulnerable populations. Learn more using this interactive survey tool.
The density map below is created by the Metro Public Health Department each Monday and is available via the city’s COVID-19 dashboard.
Each day, the Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) releases figures tracking the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in each county and statewide. In an effort to raise awareness about these figures and understand how infection rates are changing, NashvilleHealth shares tracking updates and insights based on TDH data.
Data acquired from the TDH Website, as of June 19 analyzed by Sajid Khan, Change Healthcare and NashvilleHealth Board.
*Total TN & Other County Cases Include Out Of State Cases Diagnosed in TN
NashvilleHealth is proud to recognize health professionals who are going above and beyond to care for and lead our community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Founded in 2017, the Music City PrEP Clinic provides no cost HIV and STD testing and HIV prevention medication (PrEP), and has grown from a small start-up with a handful of patients to the largest provider of PrEP in the state. The clinic team had services up and running in a temporary location the day after losing both office and clinic locations during the March tornado. And, during the COVID-19 closures, they quickly launched telemedicine services to ensure clients have not gone without care. Clinic Director Rich MacKinnon shared his team is laser-focused on fighting “two pandemics,” HIV and COVID-19, within our community with quality and compassionate care.
Vanderbilt School of Medicine Department of Health Policy recently released: Addressing the COVID-19 Health Equity Chasm.
Metro Council’s LGBTQ Caucus, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, NashvilleCares and FiftyForward present: LGBTQ Health in the Time of COVID-19.
A Nashville Scene analysis of the coronavirus’s health, economic and social effects in the LGBTQ community.
View previous NashvilleHealth E-briefshere.
Find additional COVID-19 response resources and information here.
Program Spotlight: Heart of Nashville – Matthew Walker Comprehensive Health Center
Program Spotlight: Heart of Nashville – The Nashville Food Project
Hotter Days and Changing Climate: Impacting a Thriving Nashville
Determinants of Health: Anchoring Our Residents and Communities
