Case Study: The North Carolina Community Health Worker and Support Services Programs
This case study is part of a PIH series on care resource coordination for COVID-19. Care resource coordination facilitates the social, material, and other supports that COVID-19 cases and contacts need to safely isolate or quarantine. Today, millions in the US struggle to meet basic needs and not everyone can quarantine and isolate equally. Resource coordination is an essential part of an equitable pandemic response and can be applied far beyond COVID-19.
In North Carolina, resource coordination is done by the NC Community Health Worker (CHW) Program and Support Services Program (SSP). This case study describes the programs’ operations, then analyzes key factors to their success, as well as challenges and lessons learned. These programs are a model for jurisdictions seeking to support isolation and quarantine in partnership with community-based organizations (CBOs). North Carolina’s resource coordination is unique in its use of multiple interrelated programs, direct financing of social supports, and support of COVID-19 cases and contacts without directly integrating with contact tracing systems.