Nothing is more important than maintaining physical and mental health. SOME’s single adult housing programming includes health and wellness activities that are instrumental in helping our residents be healthy. They have recently begun a multi-week COVID education series to educate tenants on COVID-19 and the health disparities that plague our DC community.
SOME works with a large population of individuals who have health conditions that put them at risk for great complications of COVID-19. Single adult housing noticed how it was important to educate their tenants on COVID-19 and the direct impact it has had on the African American community.
In part one of the series, SOME health and wellness staff discuss the impact of systematic racism and how it has perpetuated health disparities amongst the African American community. Health and Wellness Coordinator, Sierra Coppage, explains redlining and how housing segregation leads to the disparities that we see here in DC. The program also includes uncovering racial biases that many minority communities experience in healthcare and provides tips on how to better communicate with medical professionals.
Part two of the series looks at the chronic health conditions that make people more susceptible to complications of COVID-19 as well as how stress impacts their bodies. A large part of the health program is learning about your personal health and how to cope with what is going on in the world.
“Our goal is to get everyone to share information that they have learned with someone they know to help bring awareness to these health disparities and advocate for themselves and others impacted by limited access to life’s most basic needs,” said Sierra.
During the COVID-19 outbreak, SOME’s Health and Wellness team has maintained their programming in our single adult housing programs via virtual wellness calls, in-home exercise workouts, health tips, and relaxation/meditation calls.