USA Health launches online indicator to drive vaccination efforts

With how to best serve patients at the heart of our efforts, USA Health staff members worked nights and through a weekend to build and successfully launch an online COVID-19 vaccine tool so people can show their interest in receiving the shot.

In the week since the indicator went live, 7,500 people signed up through the site and 1,000 of those patients have already booked appointments to receive the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine at USA Health’s drive-through clinic operating five days a week at the Mobile Civic Center arena.

“When patients drive up, they usually have a big grin on their face to get a shot,” said Sarah Kahalley, director of clinical resources. “A lot of them thank us and tell us we are saving their lives.”

USA Health staff and healthcare volunteers are working together at the site to vaccinate as many as 400 people a day this week, with a realistic goal of giving up to 500 vaccines on Friday, Jan. 29, said Natalie Fox, D.N.P. chief nursing officer for USA Health Physicians Group.

“In Alabama, we don’t have to be last in vaccinations,” Fox said. “We are doing everything we can to get shots in arms in the most patient-centered way. Right now, our limitation is on the amount of vaccine we have. When we have more, we can give more.”

So far, more than 6,000 shots have been administered by USA Health to staff, front-line workers, first responders and those age 75 and older since the vaccine became available on Dec. 15, 2020.

The online vaccine tool development and subsequent vaccine distributions could not have been so successful so quickly, Fox said, without the dedication and drive shown by members of the USA Health staff. Everyone from IT technicians to USA’s biomedical librarians have pitched in, working quietly through the day and as late as midnight on many evenings in early January to ensure the site would be ready to handle a large volume of interested residents.

“The people working here are meant to be here,” Fox said. “They have servant leader hearts.”

How to sign up online

Those who would like to receive the COVID-19 vaccine can sign up online. This will only let USA Health know people are interested in receiving a vaccine. It will NOT automatically generate an appointment for vaccination.

When eligibility of certain groups is approved by the Alabama Department of Public Health and when USA Health has enough vaccine to begin giving the shots to those who are eligible, the information collected through the registry allows USA Health to contact people to schedule appointments. Vaccinations are strictly by appointment only.

Distributing vaccines through appointments allows USA Health to deliver the most patient-centered care possible, Fox said. The appointment process also allows us to better track patients to ensure they receive both vaccines and achieve the highest level of immunity possible.

When someone becomes eligible to receive the vaccine and supply is available, USA Health will email or text those who signed up for the registry a link to electronically schedule a vaccine appointment. The link must be used within 24 hours or that place on the waiting list will be given to the person waiting next in line.

USA Health, in partnership with the city of Mobile, is running its drive-through vaccine clinic at the civic center arena for those who have been cleared by the Alabama Department of Public Health to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

Now, only approved groups including healthcare workers, first responders and patients people who are age 75 and older, can schedule appointments for the drive-through clinic. No one will be admitted to the vaccine clinic at the civic center without an appointment.

A commitment to excellence in patient care continues to drive USA Health staff as they work daily to refine efforts from how patients register online to the most convenient way for people to enter the parking lot to where patients wait in their cars inside the civic center arena.

“It reminds us of why we got into healthcare in the first place,” Kahalley said of the vaccination initiative. “That’s to do the most good we can for vulnerable people.”

USA Health public COVID testing continues

Ongoing testing for COVID-19 by USA Health also continues on weekdays at Expo Hall, which is located next to the Mobile Civic Center arena. To make an appointment for someone who is not a USA Health employee, call 1-888-USA-2650.

Phones are answered weekdays from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. The tests are performed weekdays from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. No one will be admitted to the site for testing without an appointment and proper identification. USA Health patients can continue to contact their USA Health provider if they believe they need to be tested.