GOING THE LAST MILE FOR THE HOUSEBOUND
Bay Staters get vax visits
For the housebound, a team of kindhearted pros are going the last mile.
“I would love to be able to go out and get (a vaccine), but I can’t go anywhere. The doctor says I have to stay home,” said 94-year-old Raymond Mahan of Leominster.
Hope was just around the corner. Mahan was vaccinated in the comfort of his daughter’s home on Tuesday thanks to Last Mile Vaccine Delivery, a joint program between Mascon Medical, Brewster Ambulance and Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts to reach vulnerable patients.
“You people were kind enough to come here and do it in my home,” Mahan said to the small group of EMTs and firefighters that arrived at the house to administer the vaccine and monitor him afterward.
Chris DiBona, chief of Brewster Ambulance, told Mahan, “Let the healing begin.”
Birdie Siciliano of Leominster was also pleased to see the Last Mile Vaccine Delivery crew at her door to administer a vaccine, saying, “It’s a party!”
The mobile program works to set up static sites in hard-hit Massachusetts communities, with Tuesday’s Leominster location at The Mall at Whitney Field marking the 39th site and the first time workers also went into individual homes.
John Chen, president of Mascon Medical, said reaching housebound patients is a service the team is happy to provide.
“It was phenomenal to be able to get there to give them the vaccine and let them know we will be back in three weeks to do it again,” Chen said.
Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella, who reached out to Mascon Medical for help, said, “Who would have thought that we’d be going out like the old days of the milkman or the bread man, delivering shots? That’s unbelievable. Just incredible.”
About 500 doses allocated from the state to Leominster were administered by the Last Mile team on Tuesday.
Additional programs throughout the state are also helping to reach housebound residents who wish to
be vaccinated.
Last month, Boston Medical Center launched a homevisit program for more than 400 homebound seniors and providers are expected to offer at least the first vaccine dose to all of its eligible patients at home by early April, according to the hospital.
Whittier Street Health Center in Roxbury is also reaching vulnerable patients with its mobile health van.
“Folks are scared to come out for various reasons especially the elderly … so we are trying to go directly to the source,” said Nicole Leaston, director of nursing at the health center.
At South Shore Health, a mobile team has vaccinated nearly 780 first responders and homebound patients.
“I am extremely proud of this team,” said Eugene Duffy, director of emergency services and the Mobile Integrated Health program.