Cornell partners with governor’s office to train country’s first state public health corps

With almost 40% of Americans expressing skepticism of the COVID-19 vaccine, Cornell University has decided to team up with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office and Northwell Health System to develop and train the country’s first state public health corps to assist with vaccine distribution and outreach and improve long-term public health outcomes across New York.

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The university is developing a series of online courses to train at least 1,000 fellows for the New York State Public Health Corps. Cuomo announced the health corps during his State of the State address on Jan. 11.

“Consistent with our core commitment to changing lives through public engagement, we look forward to providing training that will enable people not only to support the immediate need to fairly and effectively vaccinate against COVID-19, but also to be prepared to confront future public health challenges,” Cornell University President Martha Pollack said in a news release.

Cornell’s Master of Public Health program and eCornell, which provides Cornell online education programs, will also be working with Cuomo’s office to develop a citizen public health training program to help New Yorkers be equipped to volunteer in the next public health emergency.

Because 80% of New Yorkers need to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity, the public health corps will focus much of its efforts on effective communication of health information. 

“We know some people are hesitant to take vaccines, and we know that some populations — because of their jobs, or where they live, or what they’re exposed to in the environment — are more susceptible to bad effects should they get COVID,” said Alexander Travis, director of the Master of Public Health program and professor of reproductive biology at the Baker Institute for Animal Health, in the College of Veterinary Medicine. “The public health corps fellows will be trained to identify communities with special needs and to help give people the information they need to make good choices about getting the vaccine.”

© Georgie Silvarole/New York State Team
The buildings at Cornell University peek out over the treetops on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2020.

Gen Meredith, associate director of the Master of Public Health program, spearheaded the effort to design the initial four-part curriculum and build the team that developed educational content for the health corps training videos.

Addressing vaccine barriers

The curriculum teaches the core functions and essential services of public health, and covers the central themes of public health, including equity, sustainability and community engagement, as well as information specific to COVID-19, the news release stated.

“We’re teaching individuals to engage in conversations with community members to understand what some of the barriers to accessing vaccination might be, and to then draw on the collective resources in a community and accurate information to help overcome those barriers,” Meredith said.

Meredith continued: “We’re trying to help these fellows think about how they can respond right now to COVID-19, and also then translate these skills to longer-term public health needs, whether they’re diabetes or obesity or food insecurity or housing insecurity, that will remain prevalent in the state even after the pandemic.”

Northwell Health will develop clinical training for the health corps fellows who will become vaccinators.

Meredith worked with eCornell to prepare the first four training modules, which are being piloted with volunteers recruited through Cornell Cooperative Extension. The team plans to continue developing and refining the training as the health corps gets underway.

“Our teams are working incredibly hard to get materials finalized and ready for students,” said Sally Berkowitz, eCornell’s senior director of product management. “We’re in a very good position to have the program ready to deploy under the timeline the state needs.”

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This article originally appeared on Ithaca Journal: Cornell partners with governor’s office to train country’s first state public health corps