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Community Engagement Alliance Against COVID-19 Disparities (CEAL)
AZ CEAL’s mission
Led by the University of Arizona, The Arizona CEAL COVID Consortium consists of teams from Northern Arizona University, Arizona State University, Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale and the University of Arizona.
The goal of AZ CEAL is to conduct community-engaged research and outreach to increase COVID-19 awareness and education among communities disproportionately affected by COVID-19, and to reduce misinformation and mistrust. The team collaborates and promotes nationally developed information resources and a clinical trial patient registry.
Co-principal investigators are Sabrina Oesterle from ASU, Samantha Sabo from the Center for Health Equity Research at NAU, Chyke Abadama Doubeni from the Mayo Clinic effort and Floribella Redondo Martinez from the Arizona Community Health Workers Association.
NIH grant Accordion Closed
The National Institute of Health created an 11-state alliance, the Community Engagement Alliance Against Covid-19 Disparities, or CEAL, for outreach and engagement in ethnic and racial minority communities to address health disparities during COVID-19.
To address health disparities disproportionately affecting racial and ethnic minority communities $12 million NIH funding was distributed to teams in Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas to create CEAL programs.
Meet the team Accordion Closed
NAU co-investigators are Regents’ Professor Julie Baldwin, CHER director; Nicolette Teufel-Shone, associate director of CHER; Naomi Lee, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry; assistant professors Linnea Evans and Amanda Pollitt in the Department of Health Sciences and CHER; Heather Williamson, associate professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy and CHER; Joseph Mihaljevic, assistant professor of NAU’s School of Informatics, Computing and Cyber Systems; and Dulce Jiménez and Omar Gomez, CHER research coordinators.
NAU AZ-CEAL team Position Contact
Samantha Sabo, DrPH, MPH MPI, Associate Professor, CHER, Health Sciences Samantha.Sabo@nau.edu
Nicolette Teufel-Shone, PhD CHER Associate Director, Professor of Health Sciences Nicky.Teufel@nau.edu
Julie A. Baldwin, PhD, Regents' Professor CHER Director Julie.Baldwin@nau.edu
Heather Williamson, DrPH, MBA, OTR/L, CPH Associate Professor, CHER, Occupational Therapy Heather.Williamson@nau.edu
Naomi Lee, PhD Assistant Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry Naomi.Lee@nau.edu
Amanda Pollitt, PhD Assistant Professor, CHER, Health Sciences Amanda.Pollitt@nau.edu
Linnea Evans, PhD Assistant Professor, CHER, Health Sciences Linnea.Evans@nau.edu
Joseph Mihaljevic, PhD Assistant Professor, Informatics, Computing and Cyber Systems Joseph.Mihaljevic@nau.edu
Dulce Jiménez, MPH CHER research coordinator Dulce.Jimenez@nau.edu
Omar Gomez, MPH CHER research coordinator Omar.Gomez@nau.edu
CEAL Projects
CEAL CHW/CHR Promotora focus groups Accordion Closed
CHWs/CHRs Promotoras know their community best!
Community health workers — also referred to as community health representatives and promotoras — are “frontline public health workers who are trusted members of the communities they serve,” according to the American Public Health Association. As such, they have a unique understanding of their community’s experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, including:
- challenges
- barriers
- concerns
- fears
- hesitancies
- misinformation
- myths
Through CEAL, NAU researchers partnered with the Arizona Community Health Workers Association (AzCHOW) to develop and disseminate accurate, up-to-date COVID-19 information for community health workers to give to their communities.
To learn about what local communities are experiencing during the COVID-19 pandemic and their opinions and beliefs, we conducted focus groups with CHWs/CHRs Promotoras. Their ideas and opinions are used to develop and adapt COVID-19 educational materials and health education messages. CHWs and CHRs then use the materials to serve their clients for COVID-19 prevention, including COVID-19 vaccine education and COVID-19 research.
CEAL Results from Community Health Workers Focus Group report
To learn more about the in-depth experiences of community health workers during the pandemic, read the recently released report of community health worker focus groups titled “Community Engagement Alliance Against COID-19 Disparities: Results from Community Health Workers Focus Groups.”
It’s Our Turn Now youth contest Accordion Closed
NAU’s CEAL initiative is focused on engaging young people’s creativity to produce and promote vaccination and general health promotion. CEAL’s youth project is aimed at understanding how community-generated messaging can help protect people against Covid-19 and related health outcomes from the pandemic.
Messaging generated by youth will range from videos to posters to songs that tackle core aspects of hesitancy by using evidence-based messages. Participants between the ages of 16 and 25 throughout Arizona will submit their messaging to be judged by Arizona community members and public health experts for a chance to win $250. All other participants can earn $10 for their submission.
Your creativity can help save lives in your community.
Visit our youth page.
Please visit this page often for CEAL updates!