Assisted Living Facilities Aim To Keep On Track With Vaccine Schedule
LAKEWOOD, Colo. (CBS4) - The first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in Colorado started this week under Phase 1 of the state's distribution plan, which will include those at long-term care communities. Juniper Communities confirmed on Wednesday some will receive the vaccine by the end of the month, as they work to educate and encourage staff and residents to participate in the program.
"It's been a difficult year for all of us in the healthcare industry whether it's long-term care, hospitals, primary care," said Cindy Longfellow, the vice president of business development for Juniper Communities. "It's been particularly difficult to see our residents and how they've had to work through the challenges."
The company oversees communities in three states including four licensed assisted living locations and another for skilled nursing in Colorado. The rollout of the vaccine is a complicated process, but these communities are following guidance from state and community health officials.
The skilled nursing location will start to receive the vaccine on Dec. 29 and Jan. 19, Longfellow told CBS4. Over three total dates, they hope to maximize getting the two doses of the vaccine to staff and residents.
"Our teams of our staff members and our residents are excited. I think they see it as a way to get back to some sort of normalcy in our communities," she told CBS4 on Wednesday. "Helping folks to understand that yes, we're in the last mile, but we still have to do all of those right things."
Juniper Communities is trying to decide if they will require the vaccine for staff or residents. Longfellow says it would make sense to mandate it for their employees, but they hope to avoid forcing it on anyone.
They want residents and those who care for them to elect to take the vaccine on their own.
"Obviously that decision about opt in versus mandates needs to be made very quickly," she said. "The process seems very clear and clean, and we are so fortunate to have head that guidance with respect to administration and timing from all of the agencies involved."
She says they hope most of their communities will be vaccinated in the spring of 2021 or the end of the second quarter at the latest, keeping on track with the schedule announced by the state earlier this year.
"Our teams, our residents, our associates, are indeed accepting and enthusiastic about getting the vaccination, and I think that's a huge, huge plus for our communities," Longfellow said.
