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The number of people vaccinated in New London County is on the rise, thanks to several local outreach efforts and increased funding.
Vaccination clinics are held in local parks, housing complexes, churches, food distribution sites, basketball tournaments, school events, fairs and festivals, and even farmers’ markets.
“Our team of community ambassadors are in the community every day to connect with people and provide them with vaccine information and answer questions,” said Jennifer Muggeo, deputy director of the Ledge Light health district, in a statement. E-mail. “The ambassadors also carry out targeted awareness campaigns in the neighborhoods when there is a clinic nearby to let people know that if they are ready to be vaccinated now, we are happy to see them! “
Immunization efforts were boosted by the state’s Vaccine Equity Partnership funding program and separate grants received by Uncas Health District and Ledge Light Health District.
The four-month grant that began May 1 and ends August 30 has enabled LLHD to partner with Community Health Center, Inc., Thames Valley Council for Community Action, and the Health Education Center.
“We are also working with the DPH / Griffin Vans to increase the number of pop-up clinics where the Pfizer vaccine is offered,” Muggeo said, noting that the health district itself only administers Moderna and Johnson vaccines. & Johnson.
Uncas Health District is in partnership with United Community & Family Services and TVCCA.
“We have expanded to include other agencies that are not funded by the grant but still do the same job,” UHD director Patrick McCormack said in a telephone interview. These organizations include Hartford Healthcare, Backus Hospital, Generations Family Health Center, and Norwich Human Services.
UHD’s outreach approaches include door-to-door surveys, prospecting for local businesses / housing complexes, resource fairs, and over 1,000 telephone inquiries. Catching busy folks at Dairy Queen, Dixie Donuts, a conditioning store, food distribution events, and recreation programs have proven to be successful, McCormack said.
Their goal: To find out why people are not getting vaccinated. Is it because they do not have access to the vaccine? Or are they hesitating, and if so, why?
Once they know the need, they offer education, neighborhood clinics and home vaccinations, Jon-Paul Mandelburg, director of housing programs for TVCCA, said in an email.
Reasons people give for not wanting the vaccine include concerns about its safety and whether it really works, said Yolanda Bowes, director of patient experience at UCFS in a telephone interview. . She added that TVCCA and UHD have developed a leaflet “that sort of explains the information about the mRNA vaccine so people have the facts.”
In addition to having outreach workers who speak Haitian Creole and Spanish, Bowes said they also have educational materials in those two languages, as well as English.
“We just want to make sure we’re releasing accurate information,” Bowes said. “We can change people’s minds. We can’t, but at least they can make a more informed decision. They can talk to someone from their culture who they might be a little more confident about.
Other explanations people have given for not getting the vaccine include being too busy to get the vaccine and worries about getting sick afterwards, missing work, and not being able to look after themselves. of their children when they are sick, McCormack said. Unvaccinated people are encouraged to get the vaccine on a Friday, so they can be home in case they feel sick on the weekend, and then more than likely back to work on Monday, he said. he adds.
Some people received a dose but did not think they needed a second dose.
As of August 4, nearly 91% of people 65 and over were fully vaccinated in Norwich, up from 81.67% on May 7, according to information provided by McCormack. Those same dates reflected an increase from 46.34% to 67.02% for people between 45 and 64 years old. In addition, 34.1% of children between 12 and 15 years old and 44.1% of residents between 16 and 44 years old had been vaccinated.
These statistics do not include people living in licensed community facilities, such as nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and correctional facilities, McCormack said.
The number of mostly unvaccinated people hospitalized in New London County with the virus fluctuated from early to mid-August between 21 and 11 years old. Most were between 20 and 29 years old.
To continue providing services to people, TVCCA has “pivoted” its approach since March 2020, Mandelburg said. “For example, performing services and eligibility determinations remotely by telephone, online portals, mail, e-mail, etc. We have had employees intentionally engaged in the community at existing events as we “reopen” ie farmers markets, UniteCT mobile sites, food distribution events, etc. to broadcast services available as part of TVCCA’s standard range of services as well as through additional resources, ”including the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.
He said TVCCA is also helping with the distribution of American Rescue Plan Act funds and increasing “efforts to tailor the services to whom we serve, keeping in mind logistical barriers such as transportation, work schedules, etc. in order to provide services remotely or in the community. “
Mandelburg said TVCCA “also employs staff” who represent “the communities we serve, enabling us to provide support in native languages and with cultural humility for our service recipients.”
Since TVCCA is funded by the Connecticut Department of Housing and is also a recipient of local and private funds, he said he could “help local households” with rent arrears and potential rents, so that they can “get out of roaming and / or avoid it altogether.”
For more information on COVID-19 and Delta infection rates in New London County and Governor Ned Lamont’s latest guidance, visit the Uncas Health District Facebook page. The district serves 100,575 residents in Bozrah, Franklin, Griswold, Lebanon, Lisbon, Montville, Norwich, Preston, Salem, Sprague and Voluntown.
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