![]() ![]() He strongly credits pharmacists across the country for the role they have played in combating the COVID-19 pandemic. “It takes more than just the staff from the pharmacy to administer the vaccine, it’s a process that involves multiple different people,” Ali said.Īli offers a great example of how beneficial community building can be for a pharmacy and during a public health crisis. This includes working with ambassadors from the community to speak with people at community centers and share important details before arriving. People are now able to select the vaccine of their choice and appointments are no longer needed at Othello Station Pharmacy.Īli said if he were to share advice with other pharmacies interested in offering a pop-up clinic, he would suggest the pharmacy connect with the community first. To date, Ali and his staff have vaccinated about 10,000 people with about 40 to 50 still walking in daily. One of the challenges to providing vaccines was that some people were not able to make appointments, others couldn’t get to the pharmacy and some wanted to get vaccines on the weekend.īy utilizing walk-in pop-up clinics and working closely with community leaders, Ali said, “We were able to adapt to those needs specifically.” “The approach was very simple, ‘let’s do what community pharmacy is really good at,’ which is meeting people where they are,” Ali said. “The approach was very simple, ‘let’s do what community pharmacy is really good at,’ which is meeting people where they are.”Īlong with providing information and culturally sensitive care, there was another piece to the puzzle, and that was setting up vaccine clinics throughout the county. “That made it easier for a lot of people,” Ali said. Ali also showed people it was safe by filming himself receiving the vaccine and then sharing the video everywhere he could. We had to educate the community and make them understand the process of how the vaccines were developed, how long it takes, how is it different from a typical vaccine development process,” Ali said.Īli and his staff have been a part of weekly conversations about the vaccine to educate patients. “We heard so many myths that we really had to debunk. Misinformation on social media still posed a challenge despite the trust Ali has worked hard to build. ![]() If they need to call us to make an appointment for get the vaccine, they should be able to do that.”Īli and his staff, along with the help of community partners, put in a lot of effort to show people that the vaccine was safe. “If folks need to walk in to make an appointment, they should be able to do that. “We ensured that families and seniors had access to the vaccine in a very easy and equitable way,” Ali said. There were also general concerns from patients about the efficacy and safety of the vaccine, not to mention a limited supply. When the COVID-19 vaccines were first released, there were new challenges and some of them went beyond a language barrier. “That’s the work that independent pharmacies are able to do that I think other pharmacies aren’t able to,” Ali said. People can call in and speak their native language and they can feel understood. “That’s the work that independent pharmacies are able to do that I think other pharmacies aren’t able to.”īefore the pandemic, when the pharmacy first opened, Ali understood that a diverse staff would be required to work with the community he was operating in. ![]()
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