More eligibility means more competition for vaccines. Here’s who’s helping those at risk
With more people becoming eligible for COVID-19 vaccination, volunteers and community leaders are making a concerted push to get older folks and vulnerable communities their shots.
Partnerships among community leaders plus volunteers donating their time to search for appointments for others have become important avenues for expanding access.
“The online model is frustrating to get, and so a lot of them just said, ‘Forget it. They’re gonna have to knock on my front door in order for me to take it,’” said Pastor Anthony Steele of Allen AME Church in Tacoma, who’s helped obtain appointments for his congregants through a partnership with Virginia Mason Franciscan Health’s St. Joseph Medical Center.
His work joins efforts of local health providers trying to find direct ways of pairing COVID vaccine appointments with people, as the state races along with the rest of the nation toward the May 1 deadline announced last week by President Joe Biden, when everyone is set to be eligible.
How’s it going so far?
According to data published Wednesday by the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, 17.6 percent of the county’s residents have initiated vaccination, with 9.4 percent now fully vaccinated, compared with 21.41 percent initiated in the state and 12.37 percent fully vaccinated.
Among the older population, progress has lagged mainly because of limited vaccine supply and the labyrinth of online scheduling; with just more than half of those 65-74 in the county at some point in the vaccine process, and nearly 60 percent of those 75 and older.
Among minorities, Hispanics are among the smallest percentage showing both partial and complete vaccination in their general population at a combined 6.1 percent. For native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders: 9.4 percent. For Blacks, it’s just over 10 percent. For Native American/Alaska Native: 31.9 percent. Asians: 18 percent, and whites at 17.9 percent.
“Certainly, equity is at the forefront of the health department’s vaccine effort,” said Karen Irwin, COVID-19 communications lead for the department. “It’s why we have a multi-strategy approach, a 7-day call center with translation services, pop-up clinics at churches, community-led vaccine clinics, etc.”
FRIENDSHIP LEADS TO VACCINE PARTNERSHIP
You never know where a friendship will take you.
Tim O’Haver, chief operating officer at Virginia Mason Franciscan Health’s St. Joseph Medical Center, first met Steele as part of the funeral services for a friend back in 2014. That was before O’Haver worked at St. Joe.
The two sat down for a recent online interview with The News Tribune.
“It’s funny how your your life kind of moves you around in different circles,” O’Haver recalled. Later, through the Hilltop Business Association, he and Steele reconnected.
Now, Steele is a community partner who helped St. Joseph schedule hundreds of appointments for members of his congregation in recent weeks, many of whom are older folks who were struggling to get appointments.
“They’ve been surprised, happy and amazed that Pastor Steele has appointments, Pastor Steele has shots,” Steele said.
“A lot of the congregation is over 70 years old, so I’ve got about a 65 percent 70-plus population. I have others, you know, have people that are taking care of them,” Steele said.
Because of multigenerational households in the community, he added, “we are also at risk because there are a number of us in that home that can get Grandma sick.”
Virginia Mason Franciscan Health as of March 16 has reserved more than 5,000 appointments through local churches and community groups to reach vulnerable populations and those most at risk for the virus.
That’s amid the estimated 700 vaccines administered daily at St. Joseph, according to O’Haver. Systemwide, VMFH has administered more than 200,000 vaccines.
“First and foremost, we’re the community hospital for the Hilltop community,” O’Haver said. “And it’s part of who we are and what we do and our mission. And so we want to do what we can to support the community. This outreach that we’re doing now is just an extension of that.”
When COVID-19 first made its way across Tacoma, O’Haver said he checked in with Steele as to how the community was doing.
Things were not great.
O’Haver looked for ways the hospital could help.
“I mean businesses are shut down. Folks are on lockdown. Folks have lost their jobs. Pastors couldn’t have church,” he said.
The memories to this day make him emotional.
“But, Pastor Steele invited me to drive-thru communion. And my family and I came to that and I was so honored and so pleased and it was actually a really special day for us. ... It’s the first time that we had done that as a family together in probably five years,” O’Haver said.
Later, Steele and members of the Hilltop community and his congregation had a drive-by parade to thank St. Joseph health care workers. If O’Haver or Steele has an idea, they run with it, from launching parades for nurses to making masks.
“This partnership. it’s really been through the pandemic,” Steele said. “It’s really been a matter of ... man, you just got to get out there and do something.
“We’re just flying by the seat of our pants. But you know, we get out there, we do the parade for the nurses, or we get out there and we do the telephone calls and and try to get folks shots ...”
Steele provides a list each week to St. Joseph of the vulnerable in his community who are interested in getting the shot and who meet the criteria of the current vaccine phases. Appointments then are reserved for them.
“It allows them to know, OK, I’m not going to have to stand in some huge line and spend the entire day — it’s ready,” said Steele.
Mistrust and fear of the shots, or “vaccine hesitancy,” are what Steele works through now.
“I’m not talking about some kid that’s in college. I’m talking about the 83-year-old grandma telling the rest of the family, ‘Don’t take that shot,’” he said.
He has advice: Don’t confront or unload medical facts.
“I’m telling you this, the hard sell in my community doesn’t work,” Steele said.
One strategy he applied was getting vaccinated himself.
He received the Pfizer vaccine. Other than some fatigue, he said, he experienced no side effects.
“I put myself on the list, because I got at least 1,000 people behind me that didn’t want to take this shot. And the more of us that cross over into the shot realm, then others start to come and say, ‘OK, I’ll do it,’” he said.
“And then it’s more of me fussing at them saying, ‘Now when I went to have this shot last week, how come you didn’t come?’
“I have someone on my list that told me that she was not going to take the shot. She’s got to be about 80-82 years old. But her husband called me, her sons were calling from Los Angeles to say, ‘Please, can you convince mama to take the shot?’ And so I talked to her. She says, ‘Pastor, I just don’t want to take that.’ So I left her alone. I said, ‘OK, don’t take it.’”
He says she’s now on the list to be vaccinated.
“I just appreciate (Steele’s) leadership through the pandemic, trying to do it within all the rules and regulations and restrictions,” O’Haver said. “Finding a way to be there for your community and in a meaningful, visible way, has been amazing.”
OTHER OUTREACH
Virginia Mason Franciscan Health is not alone in its efforts.
MultiCare has worked with community partners on its own vaccine outreach program.
“We have partnered with the Tacoma Pierce County Health Department to hold vaccine clinics in easily accessible locations and targeted toward local community organizations that serve diverse communities in Pierce County,” the health system told The News Tribune in a statement.
“We’ve also provided volunteers, equipment and logistics support, and promotion for the community mass vaccination efforts as another way to administer as many doses as possible.”
That has included supporting 12 community mass vaccination clinics in Pierce County, with five of those targeted toward local organizations that serve diverse communities.
According to the health system, its Center for Health Equity & Wellness has received funding from several foundations to offer 72 community-based pop-up COVID-19 vaccine clinics in Pierce County twice a week targeting residents who are disproportionately affected by COVID-19 which include BIPOC and rural communities and individuals with disabilities.
“We’ve also created specific educational materials through MultiCare’s Center for Health Equity & Wellness that answer common vaccine questions asked by the communities served by our local partner community organizations and nonprofits.”
Systemwide, it’s administered a total of 111,438 doses as of March 18.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department last year launched the Tacoma-Pierce County Equity Action Network, which includes 80 community partners. It has contracted with 12 community partners to boost “culturally grounded communications and engagement,” the department noted in a recent blog.
An example of this is the Tacoma Refugee Choir, which produced multilingual music videos for songs that encourage actions, such as wearing masks, frequent hand washing and social distancing, to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
“Generally, what we’re hearing from our partners is that people who are eligible have been able to get appointments,” said Kayla Scrivner, immunization branch director for the health department, in a recent interview with The News Tribune.
“However, we know that there are people who are still facing barriers to appointments. And so we are being very thoughtful and really prioritizing our mobile clinics and working with our community partners, and community centers for people that might not have access to the internet or be able to hear about things on social media and things like that.”
VACCINE BOOKERS
Bonnie McGuire leads a group of retired educators in the Tacoma area who spend time finding vaccine appointments for those 65 and older.
The group, Vaccine Bookers, was profiled by The News Tribune in early March. After starting their work in February, they are now closing in on helping 900 people find vaccines.
“The vast majority have been senior citizens, 26 of whom range in age from 90 to 102,” McGuire said.
In some ways, she said, it’s become easier to find appointments as more retailers offer the vaccines.
“Safeway opens up, typically mid-week. CHI Franciscan opens on Fridays. Costco is usually mid-week. They’re all gone in a couple of hours,” McGuire said. “It’s a slog outside of that.”
Her commitment to helping seniors find shots hasn’t wavered.
“We’re worried that seniors and other marginalized groups will be elbowed out as more and more people become eligible. It is good that more and more are eligible. We would just like to continue to help those who are overshadowed,” she said.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
▪ Federal Retail Pharmacy Program locations: Vaccine Finder, https://vaccinefinder.org/search/, is run by the federal government and separate from the state’s vaccine locator website.
▪ Washington state Department of Health vaccine assistance hotline: 800-525–0127, vaccinelocator.doh.wa.gov
▪ WA COVID vaccine finder (run by volunteers): www.covidwa.com
For assistance:
▪ TPCHD: The health department’s call center to help those eligible now for vaccines is 253-649-1412, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., seven days a week.
▪ Pierce County: The county has launched a call center to help those searching for vaccines. Residents who qualify within the WA State Phase Finder and cannot sign up for an event can contact the call center at 253-798-8900, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., or email pcvaccine@piercountywa.gov for help.
▪ Vaccine Bookers email: vaccinebookers@gmail.com.
Expect their help to take some time due to increased demand. As an option, they recommend the following sites to learn more on how to help yourself and others:
▪ Vaccine Bookers website: vaccinebookerswashington.com
▪ Vaccine Bookers Facebook: facebook.com/vaccinebookers
▪ Virginia Mason Franciscan Health: The health system offers vaccine clinics at its hospitals but says, “We are also exploring ways that we can serve patients and the community by making vaccines even easier to access, such as mobile clinics, home-visit appointments and scheduling appointments at primary care locations.” Call center: 253-792-2385. Only call if you qualify for the vaccine, as the center receives a high volume of calls. The system prefers you register online: chifranciscan.org/patients-and-visitors/covid-19/vaccine-information/how-to-schedule
▪ MultiCare: Online vaccine scheduler (open only to those who qualify): multicare.jotform.com/210666641432957. According to a statement on its website: “We have closed our COVID-19 vaccine wait list and are now offering self-scheduling for vaccine appointments to people who fall into Phase 1A and Phase 1B, tier 1 and tier 2 of Washington state’s eligibility criteria. Everyone who previously added themselves to our appointment wait list has been notified of this change.”
