Since 1908, St. Barnabas Senior Services (SBSS) has been supporting older adults in Los Angeles to help them live well, feel well, and age well with dignity and respect.
COVID-19 has not changed that mission one bit.
In fact, SBSS has risen to the occasion throughout the pandemic, providing safe transportation, access to food, and online and telephone services to senior Angelenos. Now, SBSS has been able to offer one of the most important forms of support and care during this time: safe access to the COVID-19 vaccine.
From April 6-10, St. Barnabas Senior Services partnered with Kaiser Permanente in SBSS’s first-ever COVID-19 Vaccine Pop-Up Clinic.
With easy sign-ups and an organized flow, the pop-up clinic provided a convenient environment for older adults to receive a one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine administered by Kaiser Permanente.
“It’s an easy, seamless environment where all people need to show is proof of identification to get the vaccine,” said Maggie Escobar, Executive Assistant at St. Barnabas Senior Services.
Offering Accessible Vaccination
Safely held in a beautiful courtyard outside the Mid-City location on Carondelet Street, the clinic was organized and executed smoothly and quickly. With the goal of getting older adults vaccinated as quickly as possible, SBSS contacted Kaiser as soon as a vaccine was made available.
“St. Barnabas reached out to a Kaiser representative and told us, ‘We want to be able to give vaccines in our neighborhood’,” said Nalani Coleman, Department Administrator at Kaiser. “That representative reached out to the mobile health vehicle team and that's when the ball started rolling.”
Approximately two weeks later, the clinic was up and running and receiving 200 adults per day.
“Most clinics have maybe 150 patients the first day and 75 the next day,” said Nalani. “But the staff at SBSS worked their tails off to get 200 sign-ups for every single day, which makes the event go so much smoother. They were absolute rock stars.”
“It’s a lot of work on the back end. But everyone involved has been so dedicated and passionate about this process and this event. So it's been a lot of fun,” added Nalani.
The dedication put into the clinic was evident: A steady stream of vaccine recipients entered the courtyard throughout the day to register with a friendly SBSS staff member. They then waited comfortably under a socially-distanced tent until they were directed to Kaiser staff to get their vaccine.
After receiving the vaccine, participants were directed to a second tent, where a nurse would monitor them for 15 minutes to make sure there were no adverse side effects.
Of the entire process, Mike, 74, remarked, “I'm happy. We came in and out. It was easy.”
Mike came to the clinic with his neighbor and friend, Julia. Hearing about the event by word of mouth, Julia, 84, told Mike about the clinic and then registered them both online. “It’s been a pleasant experience in the courtyard. There’s sunshine, trees, and a nice breeze.”
The overall feel of the pop-up clinic was hopeful, calm, and happy, as participants finally received the vaccine that would allow them to begin to return to a state of normalcy.
Haley, 22, came with her entire family to get the vaccine.
“I live with my grandparents (my mother’s parents) and my grandma (my father’s mother). They’re all over 90,” said Haley. “So we all decided to get the vaccine.”
Haley’s mother found out about the clinic through a Korean community group. She then signed the entire family up online.
“I feel like everyone will eventually get the vaccine and hopefully go back to life like it was before,” said Haley.
Connecting with the Local Community Through Grassroots Advocacy & Volunteer Work
To spread awareness and reach older adults in the community who may not use the Internet, SBSS took a grassroots approach to marketing. Part of that grassroots approach involved distributing flyers on foot throughout the neighborhoods surrounding the Mid-City location.
That also meant raising awareness in multiple languages to reach a diverse population. 33% of older adult participants at St. Barnabas are Korean and 33% are Hispanic, with many non-native English speakers.
“We disseminated a lot of flyers in English, Spanish, and Korean. We posted them at the laundromats and coffee shops,” said Maggie Escobar. “We used old school, grassroots advocacy to get the word out. People went to wash their clothes and they learned about how they could get a vaccine.”
The pop-up clinic was also prepared to receive vaccine recipients who might not speak English, with multilingual volunteers ready to help them fill out forms and understand the process.
“It’s been nice for me to help people who may not be able to get the vaccine otherwise,” said Hannah Baek, a Korean translation volunteer. “A lot of Koreans have found it difficult to make an appointment elsewhere because they’ve had trouble filling out forms online, so they’ve just given up on getting the vaccine.”
HyonJu Lee, 85, has been volunteering with St. Barnabas Senior Services since 2006, when he came to the United States from Korea with his wife. He started working with SBSS to help other seniors acclimate to the U.S.
“My goal is to return the knowledge I have received back to society,” said HyonJu. “It’s been a normal part of my life to volunteer.”
Accomplishing the Task Through Teamwork
At the end of the day, SBSS and Kaiser partnered together through this event to administer 1,006 vaccinations to adults in Los Angeles–including a large population of seniors, their loved ones, and caregivers.
The event was a smooth success, and ideally, will have helped the lives of participants return to a state of normalcy. But it didn’t happen without effort. Partnership, planning, and passion were essential to the event.
“We had a goal of 1,000 vaccines and we met the goal,” said Maggie Escobar. “Without teamwork, we couldn’t have gotten this done.”
