Community Care and COVID-19: A Case Study

Community Care City of Kawartha Lakes provides primary care through its Community Health Centre, a range of hospice services and numerous community support services. Along with other essential service providers, our organization has continued to operate throughout the pandemic. As a community-based health services provider, we recognized the imperative and the privilege for our organization and the larger home and community care sector to support individuals, especially those most vulnerable due to health status, socio-economic circumstances or isolation, to safely remain at home during the pandemic, in compliance with public health directives. This article describes the strategies and approaches we implemented along with reflections on the leadership practices and principles that emerged. It does not purport to be an exemplar for crisis management of the COVID-19 pandemic. Rather, it seeks to draw attention to the contributions made by community-based organizations and potentially serve as a case study for debate.