CT steps up mobile vaccination for homebound
As the state inches toward increased COVID-19 vaccine eligibility for more adults, nurses across Connecticut in recent weeks have stepped up to complete a new and hefty undertaking: Vaccinating those who cannot leave their homes against the novel coronavirus.
While older adults have been eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccination in the state from the very beginning, their inoculation depended entirely on leaving their homes and going to immunization clinics hosted at hospitals, pharmacies, health centers or mass drivethrough sites. And for residents of congregate living facilities, such as nursing homes, the clinic came to them.
Homebound seniors found themselves left out of the vaccination equation.
But new efforts to get the coronavirus vaccine to homebound seniors have popped up from lower Fairfield County to the Rhode Island border. Hartford HealthCare’s home-care division started vaccinating homebound adults back in mid-January. Other healthcare systems followed.
“Our nursing team now is in the community every day, going into homes, vaccinating our homebound patients,” said Andrea Griffith, vice president of operations for Hartford HealthCare at Home. Across the system’s five regions — Hartford, Mansfield, Southington, Torrington and Fairfield — Griffith estimates that her nurses could vaccinate about 3,500 homebound seniors.
So far, Hartford HealthCare at Home has vaccinated about 100 patients.
The number of homebound seniors in Connecticut is unclear. The Commonwealth Fund — a nonprofit
focused on health outcomes for vulnerable populations — estimates that nationally there are 1.9 million adults over 65 that are “completely or mostly homebound.” More than 5 million others live with functional limitations that make leaving the home difficult.
Hartford HealthCare’s mobile program is targeted toward the Hartford area, but it will expand, Griffith said.
“We’re actually planning to introduce the program in our (Southington) region within the next two weeks,” she continued. “We’ll be starting our first dose in a new region, while we’re circling back to the other region to start the second dose.”
Yale New Haven Health System, which serves much of coastal Connecticut from Greenwich to New London, set its sights on vaccinating another 3,5000 seniors. Their program, which began the week of Feb. 8, had vaccinated 12 people as of Friday — six in the Milford area and another six in New Haven.
Both plans underscore the difficulties in transporting the fragile vaccine. Katie O’Leary, who manages postacute care services for Yale New Haven Health, said that as soon as vaccines are distributed to nurses, the clock starts ticking.
“The planning around going to a place, doing that prep work, getting the vaccines in a temperature-controlled
situation, getting back to your car, and then eventually driving between six to 10 homes,” O’Leary said. “You can imagine only imagine the logistics associated with that.”
Both Hartford HealthCare at Home and Yale New Haven Health are part of a statewide task force on homebound vaccinations, a partnership both organizations said helped them launch the push towards getting eligible people vaccinated. O’Leary said that, to identify the state’s homebound population, Yale New Haven Health is using a screening tool that keeps track of who is eligible for the vaccine at home.
“We’re trying to be depersonalized this,” she added.
Instead of keeping the push for mobile vaccines tied to a healthcare system, O’Leary hopes to see it become a broader public health initiative.
In the interim, some municipalities are attempting similar programs on a smaller scale.
In partnership the local hospital, Stamford announced a “bed-bound” vaccine initiative on Tuesday, a push that that targets people that spend most of their time in bed. Nearby Stratford moved on Friday to begin vaccinating homebound adults via its emergency medical services team.
A spokesman for Stamford said that the city vaccinated three bed-bound individuals on Tuesday, with a steady trickle of inquiries coming in. An announcement from Stratford estimated that “at least 10” people were vaccinated on its launch day.
Effort required aside, experts say that the risk is well worth the reward. Homebound people may not have the same level of exposure as more able-bodied people, but age and illness make getting vaccinated even more critical.
“They’re still being exposed to COVID risk if they have a younger relative who’s coming and taking care of them, or if they have a homecare agency,” said Dr. Robert Hecht, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health.
Even though homecare workers were among the first offered the vaccine nationally, their vaccination rates remain relatively low compared to other groups. The Centers for Disease Control found that, in the first month of the federal vaccine push, only an estimated 37.5 percent of nursing home staff members received at least one vaccine dose. In comparison, the CDC approximates that 77.8 percent of nursing home residents received the vaccine.
That potential risk has kept homebound adults especially isolated during the pandemic. O’Leary said one homebound man vaccinated by Yale New Haven Health hadn’t seen family in over six months. Instead of visits, he’d wave at them through the window.
“I think that often times, we focus very heavily on getting as many people vaccinated as possible, which is absolutely correct,” O’Leary said. “But it’s equally important to really, you know, pay attention to the most vulnerable types of patients in the in the state.”