Establishing Community Testing and Vaccination Centers Within a Week: Two Case Studies from the Primary Care Medical Home
摘要
Primary care teams pivoted to serve the needs of their communities and patients throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. In the early months, this included providing COVID-19 evaluation and testing. Later, this included providing vaccines to patients and communities. This chapter gives details regarding two illustrative case studies. The first: standing up an outdoor testing site at an urban federally qualified health center (FQHC). The second: standing up a weekend/evening vaccine clinic in a busy rural health center (RHC; in partnership with county public health) that served an entire rural county that does not have a hospital located within it. In both cases, we will discuss decision-making, communication among diverse partners, how staff and volunteers were organized, and how the two initiatives fit into the ongoing daily primary and preventive care services provided at the clinics, both of which are part of a larger network of primary care clinics embedded within a large academic department of family medicine. Identified community need and our mission to serve (as an RHC and FQHC) gave us the courage and motivation to take action during a time of fear and uncertainty.