Weld County Department of Public Health +
HWL
Finding a Way to “Yes”: Nimble Approach and Creative Outreach Boosts Community Vaccine Access
Background
Somewhere between the winter COVID surge and the summer reopening, national attention shifted from rising case numbers to rising vaccination rates. States putting up the highest numbers were applauded and looked to as examples of successful rollouts. Initially, Colorado was one such state. By mid-March, Colorado had vaccinated more of its elderly population than most other states. However, as eligibility widened, Colorado fell behind. If they hoped to remain ahead in terms of percentage-of-population vaccinated, something would have to change.
In Colorado’s Weld County, the immediate task was opening a dedicated vaccination site at the County Clerk and Recorder’s office, but county leaders were already thinking beyond the stationary clinic. If they were to move the needle and truly expand access to residents, they would need to do more than open an additional vaccination site. They would need to take the vaccination site to the people by way of mobile and pop-up vaccination clinics.
“It’s not as easy as putting up a table and hanging a sign,” says Shaun May, Director of Public Health Services. “We knew what we wanted to do, but we needed help with the logistics. We didn’t really know where to begin.”
This is where Healthcare Workforce Logistics enters the story. The State of Colorado had leveraged HWL’s Rapid Response COVID Staffing Solution to supplement staff at hospitals overwhelmed throughout the state. As the supplemental staffing needs at hospitals returned to normal, the need for vaccination clinicians was massive. Having already assisted in setting up and staffing vaccination sites in Georgia and Massachusetts, HWL, led by Senior Vice President Lauren Cabral, was uniquely qualified to support Weld County’s efforts in opening a new site and setting up pop-up clinics. With a nimble approach and endless creativity, HWL delivered a turnkey vaccination solution capable of ongoing customization to meet the shifting needs of Weld County, Colorado.
The Situation
Since early January, the Weld County Department of Health and Environment (DHE) had been working double-time to meet the demand for the vaccine. The Weld County DHE clinics throughout the county were serving as full-time vaccination sites while also meeting the community’s primary care needs. Director May wanted the clinics to return to primary care services only, but this would mean opening a
new site, with a dedicated staff, where residents could go for vaccinations.
May and his team identified the County Clerk and Recorder’s Office, which shared a building with the DMV, to serve as the new clinic’s location. HWL would take it from there with a turnkey community vaccination solution. This involved hiring staff, sourcing supplies, finding adequate storage, and of course, procuring the vaccine itself.
“I appreciated Lauren, Robert, and the whole HWL team right away. They had experience opening vaccination clinics in other states, but they came in with a servant mindset and wanted to really understand the conditions on the ground here.”
Shaun May – Director of Public Health Services at Weld County Department of Health and Environment
As the teams worked together to quickly open the new vaccination site, those conditions were already changing. The initial high demand for the vaccine was waning, so their primary focus was no longer meeting demand but rather, creating it. The question was not, “How do we vaccinate all of these people?” but rather, “How do we convince all these people to be vaccinated?” Even with this new focus on marketing, education, and outreach, HWL was ready to assist.
Key Challenges
Immediacy of need —minimum time to plan
Unprecedented nature of task
Shifting priorities as demand decreased
The Objective
In partnership with the Department of Public Health of Weld County and Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, HWL was tasked with opening a Vaccination Site at the Weld County Clerk and Recorder Office and developing mobile and pop-up vaccination solutions to provide greater access to the citizens of Weld County.
The Solution
With the location already secured, HWL first focused on hiring staff for the clinic. With its classic vendor-neutral staffing model, HWL leveraged multiple agencies to source, vet, credential, and hire 40 employees for the site, including a Clinical Site Leader, Pharmacy Leader, Pharmacist and Pharmacy Techs, Observation Staff (RNs), Vaccinators and Vaccination Assistants, Greeters, and Registration and Facilities Management. Approximately half of this newly hired staff was bilingual, a fact that would prove extraordinarily useful in reaching out to the Hispanic community, which accounts for 30% of Weld’s population.
With a target opening date less than 2 weeks away, the team quickly worked through the logistics of opening the clinic—sourcing supplies, registering with the State as a vaccine provider, and securing refrigerated storage, chairs, tables, and more. The new clinic opened on April 26 with seven vaccination stations, a full-service pharmacy, and the capacity to provide 500 vaccinations a day.
Of course, even with eligibility expanding, demand for the vaccine was already declining, so the WCDHE was focused on marketing the new clinic and developing an outreach plan. The HWL team, and even the staff at the clinic, pitched in with their own creative ideas. The Clinical Site Leader regularly spent time visiting with people in line at the neighboring DMV—educating them about the benefits of the vaccine and inviting them over to the clinic. Some of the other staff put together a selfie station where patients could snap a post-vaccine picture and share it on social media to spread the word. Everyone involved recognized the importance of vaccinating as much of the population as possible, and they were willing to do whatever they could think of to administer more shots.
It was clear that both vaccine education and access were especially lacking in the more diverse communities within Weld. HWL worked closely with the Weld County communications officials to ensure the production of bilingual press releases and flyers about the clinic. When the Communications team secured a radio spot to promote the clinic, the charismatic and bilingual Clinical Site Lead went on the air and proved to be a huge success.
In addition to marketing and education, mobile and pop-up clinics played a key part in the outreach strategy. Whatever the State or County officials asked HWL to do in this regard, HWL found a way to do it. For example, in mid-May, the State wanted to host a pop-up clinic at the University of Northern Colorado, asking HWL to organize it with just 24 hours’ notice. It turned out to be the most successful (in terms of volume) pop-up clinic to date.
“The logistics of something like that aren’t simple, but the HWL team always finds a way to ‘Yes.’ Instead of ‘No, that won’t work,’ or ‘No, we can’t do this,’ their approach is always ‘How can we get to yes?’”
Shaun May – Director of Public Health Services at Weld County Department of Health and Environment
May went on to list other venues for pop-up clinics made possible by HWL: breweries, festivals, a dairy farm, Weld County Jail, Colorado National Speedway, multiple employers with headquarters in Weld, and even the Greeley County Recreation Center to reach youth eligible for the Pfizer vaccine.
Action Items
Leverage vendor-neutral staffing model to hire 40 employees
Source supplies such as PPE and syringes
Work with facilities management to source chairs, tables, tents, and other wraparound services
Secure refrigerated storage for vaccines
Train staff on registration and appointment technology
Apply for status as “vaccine provider” with the state in order to procure the vaccine
Work with the county to identify key demographics for education and outreach
Execute outreach strategy through mobile and pop-up clinics
The Results
Outreach continues in Weld County with pop-up clinics scheduled well into the coming months. The clinic at the Clerk and Recorder’s office, however, is starting to scale down based on community needs.
“We plan to keep it open month to month,” explains Cabral. “If the vaccine becomes available for children under 12 or if there are booster shots to administer, we’ll be able to scale up again as needed. I think it’s this ability to nimbly adapt to new circumstances that have made us so successful in community vaccination services.”
Though still not where healthcare leaders would like it to be, the percentage of fully or partially vaccinated individuals in Weld County continues to increase, thanks to the efforts of Weld County DHE and the creative, nimble response of HWL.