How nonprofits have used technology to reach residents during the pandemic

This article was written for our sponsor, United Way of the Greater Triangle.

With shutdowns, stay-at-home orders and social distancing mandates, COVID-19 has disrupted how society normally operates.

For nonprofits and organizations who work with underserved communities, however, connecting with their clients, patients and beneficiaries became more important than ever. Luckily, advances in technology have made it easier to connect virtually.

At Alliance Medical Ministry, for example, the Wake County clinic needed to find a way to continue providing service to the approximately 115,000 county residents who are uninsured and in need of affordable medical care.

"Before the pandemic had begun, we started evaluating and began to train on telehealth. We feel very fortunate that we could provide our staff with telehealth training before the pandemic started. Once the pandemic began, we literally went from zero to 100 in a matter of days as far as telehealth goes, but we were able to have a relatively seamless transition," said Pete Tannenbaum, executive director at Alliance Medical Ministry. "It's had a huge impact on our ability to provide lifesaving medications and continuity of care, because our patients have trouble accessing medical care, whether due to transportation issues, childcare issues or job issues. Telehealth was the vehicle that allowed them to keep their medical appointments and allowed us to monitor their health conditions."

United Way of the Greater Triangle, a local non-profit that provides funding and resources to other Triangle non-profits in support of their mission to eradicate poverty and increase social mobility, has been a long-time supporter of Alliance.

When the pandemic began, United Way provided emergency COVID-19 relief funding to Alliance that was critical to in those early days, allowing them to staff up and provide continuity of care for patients — which ended up being sorely needed.

"Because our patients have barriers to access to medical care such as transportation and childcare, historically we have a high no-show rate for appointments. Because we were able to use telehealth, our no-show rate improved by 60%. Healthcare was much more accessible because of telehealth," said Tannenbaum. "We also saw a 35% increase in the demand for behavioral health services, and we were able to provide those through telehealth, as well. Having access to healthcare at this really critical time was really important, and we are grateful that we could stay open every single day of the pandemic."

Alliance is 100% philanthropically funded, and those donations go directly toward resources that help provide better medical care and access for underserved individuals. United Way is one of the organization's largest contributors.

As Tannenbaum emphasized, in addition to physical health, the mental health of many people was affected by the pandemic. At El Futuro, a Durham-based mental health clinic for Latino families, continuation of services was crucial for their patients.

"Prior to the pandemic, we had a small department here at El Futuro that was doing tele-health and video therapy, so we were already piloting a little bit of this, but just with a handful of clients. When the pandemic happened, we really pivoted and said, 'OK, let's try and get all of our appointments happening through Zoom,'" said Courtney Crawford, therapist at El Futuro. "At the time we thought it would be very temporary, but obviously that has not been what's happened."

With United Way's help, El Futuro was able to address some of the costs of pivoting to a more virtual model, whether that was providing technology or purchasing Zoom lines. The nonprofit has also reallocated personnel to help clients download software like Zoom and figure out how to operate a video call.

El Futuro's services have been in high demand since the pandemic began, and their pivot to virtual has been invaluable for many of their clients — especially those who had to continue working in-person and taking care of their children at home.

"There was already a high demand for our services, and we recognized very quickly that the population we serve was going to be impacted really significantly by the pandemic, largely due to things like a decrease in access to resources like financial support, healthcare and health insurance. But along with that, a lot of people that we serve are also frontline workers," said Crawford. "Their job was not going to be able to transition to working from home. And the children in the household suddenly needed technology to connect to their classes — a lot of the families we serve simply didn't have those resources."

"We recognize that it's so important that we stay connected and that we find a way to stay connected. We can't just shut our doors and wait and see, because this is going to put a lot of stress on the families that we serve," she finished.

Through telehealth, Crawford and El Futuro's team have noticed that clients are staying for more visits than they had in the clinic, largely due to the convenience of being able to take appointments from home or even during lunch breaks. Virtual appointments also give the mental health professionals at El Futuro the chance to see their patients' home and work firsthand, which can inform some of their care.

Telehealth isn't the only technological innovation that has come out of the pandemic. In fact, Alliance is using technology to make changes in their electronic health records, converting to a system called Epic. The new software allows patients to use MyChart to track their personal information and message with their doctor, as well as attend e-visits and review personalized educational materials.

As COVID-19 has necessitated the use of technology to be more efficient in patient care, Tannenbaum sees some of these changes as a long time coming.

"We talk about the quote that Dr. [Anthony] Fauci made, which was if there's a silver lining at all in this pandemic, it's that it exposed the disparities that exist in healthcare. At Alliance, we have always been passionate about the disparities that exist in health care, and the pandemic really exposed that to the country," said Tannenbaum. "When you look at the populations that have been most impacted, the infection rates and mortality rates have been much higher in Black and Brown communities than in the general population. We've always been about equity in healthcare, and now we're seeing attention from the state and federal government, and our donors have been incredibly supportive of us throughout it."

This article was written for our sponsor, United Way of the Greater Triangle.