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Resources / Rides That Save Lives Toolkit

Rides That Save Lives Toolkit

COVID-19 vaccination is critical for public and individual health; transportation is essential for most people to get vaccinated. This toolkit collects emerging best practices and advice to help nonprofits, communities, and mobility providers improve vaccine access for older adults, particularly those who are homebound, no longer drive, have a disability, worry about vaccine safety, or lack family/caregiver support. Our thanks to The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation for their support, as well as the many and diverse partners of Age Friendly Arizona and the Rural Transportation Incubator. Explore the toolkit for tip sheets, an introduction with executive summary, video profiles of programs and strategies, and resources and tools organized by topic in the left column below.


Tip Sheets and Executive Summary

Powerful Partnerships and Creative Collaborations for Vaccine Equity
7 Go-to Roles for Nonprofits on Vaccine Equity
8 Ways Transit Providers Can Address Vaccine Equity

 

Introduction and Executive Summary: Rides that Save Lives Tookit
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Videos

Verde Valley Caregivers

Neighbors Help Neighbors Get Vaccinated: Verde Valley Caregivers-health system partnership offers in-home vaccination in rural Arizona.

East Carolina University Brody School of Medicine

Going to the Folks Who Need the Help: East Carolina University Brody School of Medicine sends mobile teams to underserved rural communities.

Leaders Look Ahead

Leaders Look Ahead: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic: The challenge is far from over; thought leaders offer next steps.

Homebound Hoosiers

Homebound Hoosiers: A statewide mobile program uses EMS to vaccinate homebound older adults and people with disabilities in Indiana.

Colorado Vaccine Equity Outreach Team

Colorado Vaccine Equity Outreach Team: Public-private partnership: state supplies vaccine and technical assistance; community organizations provide locations and outreach.

MetroHealth (Ohio): Vaccinating Faith Leaders

Vaccinating Faith Leaders: MetroHealth in Cleveland, Ohio hosts faith leaders, who encourage their communities to get vaccinated.

Age Friendly Arizona Rural Transportation Incubator

Age Friendly Arizona Rural Transportation Incubator: Funding and technical assistance for nonprofits and small transit agencies to improve older adult mobility.

Outreach

Outreach is critical to bridging the digital divide, sharing information, and helping older people book appointments. This section contains resources to enhance organizational outreach. (Note: Please find resources specifically on addressing concerns and reluctance about getting vaccinated in the Vaccine Hesitancy section.)

Telephone Outreach

Oregon Community Toolkit, created by Margaret Scharle, a professor at Reed College and The Madeleine Parish and School in Portland, Oregon. Available in English and Spanish.

 

AARP state and national offices have held 65 telephone town halls with health and political leaders in an ongoing series.

  • HubDialer: AARP is using this automated calling program to contact members with educational information in 11 states, with eight more starting soon

 

Area Agencies on Aging have provided information hotlines, registration support, supportive and companion services, hosting vaccinations, transportation, and more.

 

Print Outreach

To reach people who don’t use computers, nonprofits have turned to print, mailing letters, flyers, and postcards, or telling clients to expect a phone call.

 

Senior Medicare Patrols (SMP) help people combat Medicare fraud including vaccination scams.

 

Equity-Focused Resources

COVID-19 Vaccine Education Initiative Public Health Toolkits, from the Ad Council and the COVID Collaborative:

 

The Black Coalition Against COVID-19 presents testimonials, videos, expert interviews, and Town Halls from leading Black health, faith, and social organizations.

 

The Colorado Vaccine Equity Taskforce provides videos and scientific data focused on racial health disparities and COVID-19 vaccination.

 

Educational Resources (Multilingual)

CDC: Community-Based Organizations COVID-19 Vaccine Toolkit contains templates for a letter to CBO members; newsletter content; key messages; FAQs; slide deck; print materials (posters, factsheets, etc.).

  • CDC COVID-19 Vaccine Factsheets in English; Arabic; Spanish; Korean; Russian; Simplified Chinese; Tagalog; Traditional Chinese; Vietnamese; Amharic; Burmese; Farsi; French; Haitian; Creole; Karen; Kinyarwanda; Nepali; Pashto; Somali; Swahili (Congolese); Tigrinya; Urdu
  • CDC Social Media Content: Graphics and messages in English and Spanish
  • CDC Stickers: Printable post-vaccination stickers in English and Spanish

 

COVID-19 Fact Sheets from Harvard Health Publishing and the COVID-19 Health Literacy Project.

  • Free, in 35 Languages; Albanian; Amharic; Arabic; Armenian; Bengali; Creole; Chinese (Simplified and Traditional); Dutch; Farsi; Filipino; French; German; Greek; Gujarati; Hindi; Hiligaynon; Italian; Japanese; Korean; Malay; Malayalam; Marathi; Navajo; Oromo; Portuguese; Polish; Punjabi; Romanian; Russian; Serbian; Spanish

 

COVID-19 Vaccine: (FAQ) from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health

 

COVID-19 Vaccine Resources from Lutheran Services in America.

  • Exceptionally thorough collection from a diverse range of sources, updated frequently

 

Volunteers

Your Vaccine Support Partner Program, from Little Brothers – Friends of the Elderly in Chicago.

 

COVID-19 Resources for Volunteer Engagement Leaders from the Minnesota Association for Volunteer Administration.

 

Mobility and Access

Ensuring all older people can get vaccinated requires options that are age-friendly: transportation for people who cannot drive or use transit, alternative settings for people cannot stand in line or manage alone, or bringing the vaccine to mobility-limited people, rather than the other way around. This section contains resources to support mobility and access.

Volunteer Drivers
Transit and Paratransit Programs

Mobility Managers: COMET transit in Columbia, South Carolina is promoting its mobility manager to connect older people to specialized services like paratransit, route finding, and gas stipends to pay to friends/family as volunteer drivers.

 

ADA-mandated complementary paratransit service is being modified in some places to ease vaccination travel.

  • In Texas, Austin MetroAccess is providing door-to-door rides to vaccination sites for anyone in its service area (not just Access clients) by appointment, seven days a week
  • In California, Los Angeles Access offers book-by-phone, next-day service. Vehicles get a priority lane at select drive-through sites. Riders stay in the vehicle the whole time. Parking is provided for post-vaccination observation before the return trip

 

COVID-19 Resource Center, from the National Center on Mobility Management (NCMM)

  • Examples of Transit's Essential Role in the Vaccination Effort (compiled by the National Center on Mobility Management)
  • Personalized Technical Assistance - Transit providers can receive personalized help with questions about “incidental use” of vehicles under the CARES Act and other regulations from the National Center for Mobility Management

 

In-Home Vaccination

“Homebound Hoosier” EMS Vaccine Administration Program Manual: A statewide program coordinated through the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.

 

Trust for America’s Health: Ensuring Access to COVID-19 Vaccines for Older Adults and People with Disabilities Who are Homebound:

 

Age-Friendly Vaccination Sites

West PACE in San Diego combines several emerging best practices:

  • Partnering with 211 for telephone-based bookings
  • Allowing older people to bring a caregiver inside
  • Modifying clinic layout so people sit in one place throughout their visit
  • Providing onsite care navigators and remote translators

 

Vaccination Sites Inside Community-Based Organizations

Colorado Vaccine Equity Task Force arranges pop-up clinics in community-based organizations’ facilities. CBOs apply using this checklist of staffing and equipment needs, and this request form:

 

UCHealth in Colorado has conducted 30+ outreach clinics so far (like this one with Shorter Community AME Church).

  • Coming Soon: A UCHealth Playbook for Community Outreach

 

Health Systems

UCHealth vaccinated nearly 10,000 people in one weekend, in collaboration with multiple agencies and community partners.

 

Co-Vaccinating Caregivers and Companions

Some locations allow a caregiver who travels with an older adult to support their vaccination trip to receive a vaccination themselves.

 

Non-Emergency Medical Transportation (NEMT)

Vaccine Hesitancy

Fear, suspicion, and misinformation can be significant obstacles to vaccination. Service providers must be prepared to address people’s concerns. This section contains resources for identifying messages that resonate, sharing correct information, and countering misinformation. Generally, the most credible resources are nonpartisan, noncommercial, and nonjudgmental.

Community-Specific Resources

COVID-19 Vaccine Education Initiative Public Health Toolkits, from the Ad Council and the COVID Collaborative:

 

Vaccine Hesitancy among Older Adults, from the AARP Public Policy Institute.

 

Changing the COVID Conversation, from the DeBeaumont Foundation with research by Frank Luntz.

 

The Colorado Vaccine Equity Taskforce website includes data and a speakers bureau.

 

The Black Coalition Against COVID-19 includes expert interviews and Town Halls.

 

BlackDoctor.org Covid-19 Resource Center.

 

Lifting Up the Voices of Older Black and Hispanic Adults, from HelpAge. Ongoing interviews with older adults and experts in health disparities, sociocultural norms, and vaccine ethics.

 

The COVID-19 Vaccine Education and Equity Project, led by the Alliance for Aging Research, Healthy Women, and the National Caucus and Center on Black Aging. Funding from Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson.

COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy, from the Harris County (Texas) Public Health Department.

 

COVID-19 Tribal Resource Center, from the National Indian Health Board.

 

Strengthening Vaccine Efforts in Indian Country, from the Urban Indian Health Institute.

 

PIVOT Covid Vaccine Information, from the Progressive Vietnamese American Organization.

 

Understanding Diverse Communities and Supporting Equitable and Informed COVID-19 Vaccination Decision-Making, from the National Association of County & City Health Officials et al. For public health providers.

Faith Communities

‘All in’ Against COVID-19, from the HHS Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

 

Faith & the COVID-19 Vaccine, interviews from the Religion News Service, with:

 

Misinformation Research

Vaccine Misinformation Can Overwhelm Facts, from communications researchers at UC Davis.

 

Vaccine Misinformation Management Field Guide, from UNICEF, The Public Good Projects, the Yale Institute for Global Health, and First Draft.

 

Beyond Politics — Promoting COVID-19 Vaccination in the United States, in the New England Journal of Medicine, offers strategies and key tactics.

Educational Resources (Multilingual)

CDC COVID-19 Vaccine Factsheets

 

COVID-19 Fact Sheets from Harvard Health Publishing and the COVID-19 Health Literacy Project.

  • Free, in 35 Languages; Albanian; Amharic; Arabic; Armenian; Bengali; Creole; Chinese (Simplified and Traditional); Dutch; Farsi; Filipino; French; German; Greek; Gujarati; Hindi; Hiligaynon; Italian; Japanese; Korean; Malay; Malayalam; Marathi; Navajo; Oromo; Portuguese; Polish; Punjabi; Romanian; Russian; Serbian; Spanish

 

COVID-19 Vaccine: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health

 

COVID-19 Language Resources, from the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum.

 

Multilingual Resource Hub from UCLA offers materials in 19 languages.