Menu

In the News

Oregon Public Health Institute Responds to COVID-19 Through Contact Tracing

With COVID-19 cases continuing to overwhelm hospitals, an Oregon nonprofit is helping counties do an essential job better: contact tracing. Through the Tracing Health program, PHI and the Oregon Public Health Institute have trained hundreds of new contact tracers, helping local health departments and assisting people exposed to the coronavirus in getting the financial help they need to be able to quarantine. Emily Henke of OPHI discusses Tracing Health and its overall focus on health equity.

  • Oregon Public Broadcasting
Emily Henke, Oregon Public Health Institute

In parts of Oregon, COVID-19 cases continue to overwhelm hospitals. Now an Oregon nonprofit is helping counties do an essential job better: contact tracing.

Through the Tracing Health program, PHI and the Oregon Public Health Institute (OPHI) have trained hundreds of new contact tracers, helping local health departments and assisting people exposed to the coronavirus in getting the financial help they need to be able to quarantine.

In an interview with Oregon Public Broadcasting, Emily Henke of OPHI discusses Tracing Health and its overall focus on health equity.

Emily Henke
Contact tracing has to be delivered in a way that works for communities most impacted by COVID and by health inequities.... We have 50 languages represented on our team. At the end of the day, contact tracing is fundamentally a trust exercise. It is rooted in the ability to build rapport and to ensure that someone is deeply listening to you and providing information back to you. We find that's a lot easier when we are able to have that conversation in a language that someone prefers and with staff who share the background of the people they are calling.

Emily Henke, executive director, Oregon Public Health Institute

Originally published by Oregon Public Broadcasting


More Updates

Work With Us

You change the world. We do the rest. Explore fiscal sponsorship at PHI.

Bring Your Work to PHI

Support Us

Together, we can accelerate our response to public health’s most critical issues.

Donate

Find Employment

Begin your career at the Public Health Institute.

See Jobs

Kids in a school playground

Close

Donate to PHI Today to Build a Healthier World for Tomorrow

The last few years have been immensely challenging for communities around the globe—in some cases, setting back public health gains by years or decades. But these last few years have also demonstrated what works: Sustained investments in communities, health and equity, and policy change to support them. Now is the time to strengthen these successes, to ensure that no community falls behind.

Donate to PHI

Continue to PHI.org