Key partners: RI Office of Healthy Aging, RI Department of Health, RI Executive Office of Health and Human Services, The United Way of Rhode Island

While the overall COVID-19 vaccination rate in Rhode Island has been increasing, Black and Hispanic individuals are less likely to get vaccinated. To increase these vaccination rates, The Point (the ADRC) participated in and led almost fifty vaccine outreach events in culturally diverse communities which reached over 4,000 individuals. These outreach events took place at locations such as Black Lives Matter offices, the Center for Southeast Asians, supermarkets, bodegas, senior centers, and schools. The Point ADRC team includes staff fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, and Creole, which can help build trust between individuals who speak these languages and the ADRC.

During the outreach events, a major barrier to vaccination was misinformation about the vaccines. To address this misinformation, The Point team shared Department of Health flyers on vaccine safety which were printed in several languages. In coordination with these efforts, the RI Office of Healthy Aging, along with their partners, created a Vaccine Access “Palm Card” (attached) for the Point (the ADRC). The "Palm Card" provides information on scheduling testing and vaccine appointments and COVID-19 risk mitigation strategies. The “Palm Card” will be translated into Spanish and Portuguese and distributed to older adults, adults with disabilities, their families, and caregivers in culturally diverse communities with low vaccination rates.