OUR COMMUNITY
JARC and Federation:
Vaccine Warriors
JARC has run more than 25 clinics in the Federation building since last year. DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER
O
ver the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, many organizations in Metro Detroit have taken great, important action. Of those organizations, there may be no more profound impact made than the efforts of JARC and the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. JARC, since January 2021, has held vaccine clinics at the Federation building in Bloomfield Township, receiving the attention of the entire state of Michigan. For JARC CEO Shaindle Braunstein and Chief of Staff Jacob Gottlieb, the vaccine clinic process has been a full-time Shaindle Braunstein job, but a rewarding one. “We never considered we were going to be in this business, so to speak,” Braunstein said. “It’s sort of become part of our fabric.” JARC has run more than 25 clinics since Jan. 14, 2021. Andrew Mac of AMAC
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Pharmacy, one of JARC’s pharmacy partners, estimates he’s given about 8,000-10,000 individual shots, and with two other vaccine providers they’ve used, JARC estimates about 5,000 people have come through their doors to get a shot. The youngest vaccinated person in a JARC clinic was a child on his fifth birthday, and the oldest was 95 years old. People from Oakland, Wayne, Washtenaw and Macomb counties and people from as far away as Kent County have been vaccinated in the clinics. A PRODUCTIVE PARTNERSHIP Over the course of the past year, Federation has given JARC the space, marketing and much more to make the clinics happen. “Partnering with JARC to provide COVID vaccinations was an important opportunity for the Jewish Federation to support our community during the pandemic,” said Steve Ingber, Federation CEO. “There’s nothing more important than ensuring that everyone
is properly vaccinated, and it’s been a privilege for us to host this program.” Around October 2020, JARC started hearing that vaccines would be on the market for long-term care facilities, and that they should make sure they were signed up for the Federal Pharmacy Program. Soon after, they were making calls left and right to get their people at the front of the line to be vaccinated. Right before Christmas 2020, they received a call from Walgreens saying JARC had been assigned to them for the program. The first clinic, Jan. 14, 2021, had some of the first vaccinations in the state of Michigan. “That clinic was for the people in our licensed adult foster care homes who are considered the highest acuity and most at-risk, and the staff that works with them,” Braunstein said. “We vaccinated about 108 people.” After that population was taken care of,
