JARC and Federation Vaccine Warriors

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

Over 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 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 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.

Shaindle Braunstein

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,

JARC knew people in the other types of homes they run were still at risk, which led them to contact the Oakland County Health Department about how they could assist their many at-risk populations. Through JARC’s efforts and the efforts of Federation advocating on their behalf, another clinic was greenlit.

As part of running that clinic, OCHD was so impressed with JARC’s flow and processes that it asked the folks at JARC if they would be willing to partner to vaccinate more group homes and at-risk populations, with JARC managing logistics especially when it comes to persons with developmental disabilities and cognitive impairments. JARC was up to the challenge, running those clinics for them.

Those clinics were so successful that it led to OCHD coming through again, inquiring about JARC becoming a vaccination site for anyone who has any disability or special need whatsoever.

“We’re accessible, we understand low stimulation and anxiety around medical procedures, and we have a lot of expertise and competence they felt they could use,” Braunstein said about the evolution of the partnership.

All that success led to OCHD asking if JARC could do clinics for kids, which led to another partnership with Federation, who felt like it could be a space for the entire Jewish community to be vaccinated.

“It became a site for vaccines for kids, ages 12-15 and 5-11, and then a booster site and flu shot site,” Braunstein said.

The operation snowballed, and Braunstein said its success allowed them to do more than just community service.

“It’s allowed us to create an environment where it’s really comfortable for our staff,” she said. “Many of our staff are people of color, and there’s been a very low uptake in some communities of color because of distrust. So, we’ve created

not only a trusted space for the Jewish community and persons with developmental disabilities, but with our staff and their families. It’s a win-win-win.”

Braunstein and Gottlieb believe JARC will be in the “vaccine business” as long as the community needs them.

“Everybody’s shared goal in this is to get out of this pandemic alive, so when we were approached with the opportunity to help move the needle a little bit, obviously we jumped at it, Federation jumped at it, all of our community partners did as well, and here we are now hoping that we made a difference,” Gottlieb said. “And I think, 5,000 people, that’s significant. It speaks to how tight-knit our community is that we’re all trying to get out of it together.”

“WE NEVER CONSIDERED WE WERE GOING TO BE IN THIS BUSINESS, SO TO SPEAK. IT’S SORT OF BECOME PART OF OUR FABRIC.”

— SHAINDLE BRAUNSTEIN

PHOTOS COURTESY OF FEDERATION

ABOVE: JARC has vaccinated many of its own group home residents as well as thousands of others in the community.