July 9, 2021
When coronavirus vaccines first became available earlier this year, Community Housing Partners (CHP) wasted no time in encouraging residents and employees to get vaccinated.
In fact, CHP, which provides affordable and sustainable homes throughout the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic, went a step further and partnered with healthcare providers to offer vaccines at its communities and work sites. This year, a handful of pop-up vaccine clinics in Maryland and Virginia have helped protect hundreds of CHP residents and employees against COVID-19.
“Our vision at CHP is to create healthy, sustainable communities for everyone, and we see our work to support vaccination efforts across our portfolio as part of this vision,” said Laura Croft, Vice President of Human Capital, who added that this work has been a collaborative effort involving Resident Services, Property Management, and Human Capital.
In February, the first such partnership took place at the newly renovated J. Van Story Branch Apartments in central Baltimore. CHP partnered with MedStar Union Memorial Hospital to host a vaccination clinic at the building, which serves the city’s senior and non-elderly disabled populations. Thanks to the clinic, 50 residents, staff, and family members got their first dose, and four weeks later, MedStar Union made a follow-up visit to deliver second doses. (Read more about a health and wellness suite that recently opened at J. Van Story Branch Apartments.)
Following the success of this first partnership, similar efforts began at other apartment communities. In April, CHP staff at Kippax Place Apartments in Hopewell, Virginia teamed up with local groups to help vaccinate community members against COVID-19. The event brought together the health department and local fire and police departments and had volunteers from Fort Lee and the Community Center. In total, 50 people received a vaccine dose.
“We all came together and worked on this to provide vaccinations, not just to our residents but to those in the local community,” said Ashley Seers, Property Manager at Kippax Place.
That same month, another 45 residents participated in a vaccination clinic at Parkview Gardens Apartments in Farmville, Virginia. That clinic involved a partnership with a local pharmacy—an approached that also worked at similar clinics at Yorktown Square Apartments and The Woods at Yorktown, Virginia.
CHP partnered with a local pharmacist for a vaccine clinic in Virginia’s New River Valley in March.
On the other side of the state, CHP coordinated with Blacksburg Pharmacy, an independently owned pharmacy, to offer vaccination opportunities for 40 residents and employees in the New River Valley. It also shared details about vaccination opportunities from the New River Health District with employees at its corporate headquarters in Christiansburg, Virginia. About an hour southwest, CHP’s Northway Apartments in Galax, Virginia, was also the site of a vaccination clinic with the local health district back in May.
Since their arrival in early 2021, vaccines have been gamechangers in the fight against COVID-19. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the three vaccines authorized for use in the United States are safe, effective, and reduce risk of severe illness. As of early July, more than 67 percent of U.S. adults have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. (For more information about COVID vaccines and to find a vaccine clinic near you, visit www.vaccines.gov.)
As vaccination numbers increase around the country, mass vaccination clinics like the ones at CHP communities are becoming less and less common. Nevertheless, CHP will continue to encourage residents and employees to do their part and get vaccinated to stop the spread of COVID-19 and bring an end to the pandemic.