Partner to Expand Access to COVID-19 Vaccinations
Ascension Wisconsin and Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers have announced they are working together to significantly expand access to COVID-19 vaccinations on the southside of Milwaukee. By combining efforts and resources, the two organizations will be able to more than quadruple the number of vaccinations currently administered at Sixteenth Street’s parkway clinic, starting this week. The two organizations have a shared goal to increase accessibility, eliminate barriers and support the equitable distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine.
As the only health center in Wisconsin selected to be part of the Health Center COVID-19 Vaccine Program, a partnership between HRSA and the CDC, Sixteenth Street will receive direct federal allocations of COVID-19 vaccines to help ensure their community is equitably vaccinated.
“Because the Hispanic community we serve continues to be disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, it’s critical that we get more shots in arms as quickly as possible,” Liz Claudio, vice president of operations at Sixteenth Street, said. “Partnering with Ascension Wisconsin gives us the manpower we need to dramatically increase the number of community members we can vaccinate and work to minimize the racial and ethnic vaccination disparities.”
Several hundred Ascension Wisconsin health care workers will volunteer to support this effort by staffing 22 clinic positions a day, five days a week, for the next six weeks. The additional staff, including pharmacists, physicians, nurses, medical assistants, pharmacy and nursing students, along with other clinical and non-clinical support staff, will be able to vaccinate up to 2,000 individuals a week.
“We all have a unique role to play and each of us brings different resources as we respond to this health crisis. Building on our respective vaccination efforts and combining the strengths of Ascension Wisconsin and Sixteenth Street will make a greater impact on protecting the health of our community,” said Reggie Newson, vice president of Government and Community Services and chief advocacy officer, Ascension Wisconsin. “We are grateful for the opportunity to collaborate to connect residents with vaccines more quickly, especially for those in neighborhoods disproportionately affected by COVID-19.”
To increase capacity and efficiently accommodate more individuals, an external heated clinic tent, with multiple exam rooms, will be used for vaccinations. The tent had previously been used for COVID-19 testing.
Sixteenth Street’s Parkway Clinic is located at 2906 S. 20th Street in Milwaukee. Sixteenth Street patients who are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine can call 414-672-1353 to schedule an appointment.
About Sixteenth Street
For over 50 years, Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers has been providing quality, family-based health care services free from linguistic, cultural, and economic barriers. More than 43,000 people rely on Sixteenth Street for adult and pediatric medical services, behavioral health counseling and treatment, substance use disorder treatment, chronic disease management, supportive social services, health education and community empowerment. Sixteenth Street is recognized by the Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as being in the top 10% of health centers nationwide for its quality of care, is the only Community Health Center in Wisconsin accredited by the Joint Commission for high quality standards and is as a Primary Care Medical Home. Learn more at www.sschc.org.
About Ascension Wisconsin
In Wisconsin, Ascension operates 24 hospital campuses, more than 100 related health care facilities and employs more than 1,200 primary and specialty care clinicians from Racine to Eagle River. Serving Wisconsin since 1848, Ascension is a faith-based health care organization committed to delivering compassionate, personalized care to all, with special attention to persons living in poverty and those most vulnerable. Ascension is the largest non-profit and Catholic health system in the U.S., operating more than 2,600 sites of care – including 145 hospitals and more than 40 senior living facilities – in 19 states and the District of Columbia. Visit www.ascension.org.