History In The Making
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In January, the CHRISTUS Healthy Living Mobile Clinics rolled out COVID-19 vaccinations to the public. Since then, the clinic staff has administered around 1,800 vaccinations and averages about 50 vaccinations a day. The majority of patients have been seen at both CHRISTUS St. Mary’s Clinic and CHRISTUS Point of Light Clinic.
“Our patients are critical, fragile and underserved,” Nancy Bocanegra, CHRISTUS Healthy Living Mobile Clinics Administrator, said. At St. Mary’s Clinic, a large portion of the patients being vaccinated were in their 80s and 90s. “Many of these people are not able to go online and register themselves or wait for long periods,” Bocanegra said. “Language barriers are also a struggle for many of our patients at these large vaccination venues. We have kept the process as simple as possible for the ease of our patients.” Caretakers of these elderly patients are also being vaccinated in the process.
The Mobile Clinics have also reached other at-risk communities. “We’ve gone to the DeGeorge to vaccinate our veterans and to ReFocus Houston to vaccinate our blind community,” Bocanegra said. In addition, the staff adminstered vaccinations to our Diocese priests and area congregations of Sisters. “We are also working with the Vietnamese American Community Center in Northwest Houston to vaccinate members of that community who have no access to the vaccine at all,” Bocanegra said.
The Mobile Clinics are using the Moderna vaccine, which they are getting from Harris Health, City of Houston Health Department, and CHRISTUS Health. “Everyone has a role when it comes to vaccine day,” Bocanegra said. “Laura draws the vaccines, and Sister Theresa and Janet administer them.”
Bocanegra feels the Mobile Clinics role in distributing the COVID vaccine is “history in the making.”
“We are part of this great opportunity,” Bocanegra said. “Personally for me it’s like going to moon. Being able to implement our process and bring it to the level that our community can access and work with. I think our job has just started, as far as outreach and going into the neighborhoods.”
Through your support, we can continue to meet the healthcare needs of underserved patients in six area counties through CHRISTUS Healthy Living Mobile Clinics.
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