East Harlem’s Asthma Counselor Program During COVID: Maintaining Service Continuity and Understanding Family Needs in a Community-Based Child Asthma Management Program

Little is known about how child asthma management programs, and their participants, fared during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. We describe the primary modifications made to a child asthma management program in East Harlem, NYC, to maintain service continuity during this time. Two questions guide our analysis: 1) To what extent did the program's primary service delivery activities change between the year before the pandemic and the pandemic's first year?; and 2) To what extent did the needs of children and families in the program change between the year before the pandemic and the pandemic's first year? This study found fewer enrollments during the first year of the pandemic than the previous year. There was also a shift in social service needs, especially an increase in food insecurity during COVID's first year. The program's social workers were able to pivot to develop strategies for supporting these shifting needs.