Practice Title: An "Expression of Community"
Department: Pottawattamie County Public Health
Size: Medium (Population of 50,000-499,999 people)
State: Iowa
Summary of Practice:
By the end of 2020, southwest Iowa’s Pottawattamie County had registered some 8,000 cases of COVID-19. In response, the County planned and executed a series of 38 local, free, mass-vaccination clinics that ran from December 2020 to May 2021, and saw 55,000+ doses distributed to about 30,000 area residents—roughly one third of everyone living in the County.
This effort was led by the “Public Health Leadership Team” (or PHLT), a specially assembled team of senior Pottawattamie County employees assigned to the group due to their unique skills and expertise. In this regard, then, the very creation of the PHLT represented an early adaptation of regular County staffing practice to meet this emerging crisis.
The PHLT first determined the venue for these events, taking advantage of an emergency Memorandum of Understanding with the City of Council Bluffs to leverage a major existing local resource: the Mid-America Center, a large, multi-purpose facility that turned out to be ideal—spacious (accommodating up to 3,000 attendees per event); well-known; and easy to find. Attendees also found that the meticulous “traffic” plan there enabled them to get in; receive their vaccinations; and depart quickly—typically within 20 minutes.
The team also incorporated innovative strategies/tactics to make these clinics accessible to people from around Pottawattamie County—such as those from various linguistic/cultural backgrounds; persons with disabilities and/or ambulatory challenges; local seniors; residents travelling from rural areas; and even the “vaccine-anxious.”
One of these measures involved the PHLT creating an English/Spanish online sign-up process specifically for the clinics. The team also designed a special four-part model for efficiently serving/vaccinating attendees—comprising intake; registration; triage; and vaccine administration—that in fact may have been unique nationally.
Additionally, these events were highly unusual in that they primarily were staffed, delivered, and supported by local healthcare, volunteer, and business organizations, along with employees from other County departments. Moreover, all along, prominent local officials were involved in planning; executing; supporting; and even working the clinics.
And looking ahead: changes were/have been proposed for any future mass-vaccination clinics that might be held in the area. For example, Pottawattamie County will be hiring a dedicated Volunteer Coordinator to manage the community volunteers (and donations) that once again would very likely provide the primary support infrastructure for these events.
Also, lessons have been learned via these clinics that can help improve overall public-health practice in the future. For one, the PHLT developed a planning system which allowed the events to be “scaled” based upon the needs of the population being served, and the size of the facility—an excellent characteristic for all local public-health events/campaigns. And, Public Health will work to maintain the many collaborative relationships with community organizations that made the clinics possible, as these alliances can only improve the County’s overall public-health stance over the next several years.