{"id":189476,"date":"2022-08-25T12:45:44","date_gmt":"2022-08-25T16:45:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=189476"},"modified":"2023-06-27T12:58:32","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T16:58:32","slug":"knock-knock-uconn-students-making-hartford-house-calls-with-covid-vaccines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2022\/08\/knock-knock-uconn-students-making-hartford-house-calls-with-covid-vaccines\/","title":{"rendered":"Knock, Knock: UConn Students Making Hartford House Calls with COVID Vaccines"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rain, thunder, and lighting couldn\u2019t stop dozens of volunteering UConn Health professional students from going door-to-door in the South End of Hartford on August 23rd to offer COVID-19 vaccinations to residents.<\/p>\n

\"A
(Lauren Woods\/UConn Health Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Working in partnership with the City of Hartford Department of Health and Human Services, Harriott Home Health Services, and the Hispanic Health Council, the volunteering UConn medical, dental, pharmacy, and nursing students and residents in training joined UConn doctors, nurses, and Connecticut Area Health Education Center Network (CT AHEC)<\/a> staff.<\/p>\n

The community event was a continuation of neighborhood canvassing begun last spring by the City of Hartford, UConn Health, and CT AHEC.<\/p>\n

The volunteers divided into deployed health care teams and knocked on doors in a part of the city where COVID-19 vaccine rates are low to offer vaccines on the spot and answer any questions residents might have.<\/p>\n

\"Dr.
Dr. Bruce Gould and first-year medical students in Hartford (Lauren Woods\/UConn Health Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIf willing, we vaccinated them right then and there,\u201d says UConn School of Medicine Professor Emeritus Dr. Bruce Gould, medical director of Hartford\u2019s Department of Health and Human Services. Gould was a volunteering preceptor observing and guiding the students giving vaccines. \u201cThe response from the residents of the neighborhoods has been incredibly positive and the experience of volunteers has been incredibly fulfilling.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first-year medical students, under the supervision of physician preceptors, had the unforgettable experience of administering the first vaccines of their careers. They just learned how to vaccinate during their first week of medical school and had the opportunity to put into practice what they learned just days later.<\/p>\n

\"Julia
Julia Levin, first-year UConn medical student (Lauren Woods\/UConn Health Photo).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of those new first-year medical students administering her first-ever shot was Julia Levin, 24, of Dartmouth, Massachusetts, who was recently in the AmeriCorps program with CT AHEC at UConn Health.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was surreal,\u201d says Levin about the first shot experience. \u201cIt feels good. I really like this unique event. It removes all barriers to vaccination by reaching those who may have barriers to take that next step to be vaccinated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fellow first-year UConn medical student Amar Kalaria, 22, of Milford, also gave his first vaccine. \u201cIt was great. A little nerve-wracking at first but it was good to vaccinate someone in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The recipient of that UConn medical student\u2019s first vaccine agrees.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did good!\u201d exclaimed Yany Lugo, 40, a resident in the south-end of Hartford after receiving a surprise knock on his door from Kalaria, who successfully gave him his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in the convenience of his driveway.<\/p>\n

\"Yany
Yany Lugo of Hartford being vaccinated at his home for COVID-19 by first-year UConn medical student Amar Kalaria (Lauren Woods\/UConn Health Photo).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good that they can come to you, instead of trying to find a shot,\u201d Lugo said. \u201cI have a 4-year-old. She\u2019s vaccinated now, so why not get vaccinated [myself]?\u201d<\/p>\n

Kalaria added: \u201cI feel strongly about COVID vaccination and spreading correct information. It is important for us in the health care field to reach out and encourage others to get vaccinated. I am excited to be involved in the community as I will be here in Connecticut for the next four years at least.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pharmacist and PGY-1 resident at UConn Health, Dr. Gabriella Salerno, modeled for volunteers best practices for engaging community members in a thoughtful conversation about the purpose of the vaccination and how to answer community member concerns. Working with a Community Health Worker, Salerno administered the first vaccine of the evening.<\/p>\n

\"UConn
(Lauren Woods\/UConn Health Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI get so excited to see students get the opportunity to be out in the community, it\u2019s an eye-opening experience for them,\u201d says Barbara O\u2019Neill, associate clinical professor in the UConn School of Nursing who served as a preceptor with a community physician for the students. \u201cIt\u2019s super important. People who enter the health professions want to help. When you go out into the community and knock on a door to help someone it\u2019s really an amazing feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A
Dr. Bruce Gould and medical student Amar Kalaria (Lauren Woods\/UConn Health Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gould also stressed to the volunteers: \u201cOur community is everybody, not just those who come to our clinics. We need to always go beyond our doors and exam rooms. When we do door-to-door vaccinations it is truly going out to our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gould, whose great grandfather died at the age of 36 from the 1918 flu pandemic, also shared that as a long-time primary care provider he\u2019s given more shots in the last two years than in his entire career. A skill he had to relearn. Gould wants everyone to know: \u201cThe vaccine is very effective. Its purpose is not to prevent infection but to get better COVID outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Priya Gupta, 22, of Rochester, New York, is another first-year medical student at UConn who is really excited to be out in the community already making a difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have been really excited to have a way to fight COVID,\u201d says Gupta. \u201cI hope to vaccinate more people and make our community safer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Volunteers
Dr. Gould with UConn dental student Courtney Cummings (Lauren Woods\/UConn Health Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Courtney Cummings, 23, of Salem is a second-year UConn dental student. She helped organize the door-to-door vaccine event and recruit student volunteers with her second-year dental school classmate Eddyson Altidor, 23, of Brooklyn, New York. They both serve as CT AHEC Farmworker and Urban Communities Health and Wellness summer 2022 coordinators.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s awesome. This is a great event for first-year students to practice what they were taught. It\u2019s really rewarding to see and to offer my peers opportunities to volunteer in the community,\u201d says Cummings.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s enlightening being here in the community, walking the streets. It\u2019s making a huge difference,\u201d says Altidor. \u201cIt\u2019s a dream come true. I\u2019m here and it\u2019s awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to vaccinating residents, students also answered questions, took medical histories, filled-out intake forms, and collected demographic, medical and vaccination information for the City of Hartford\u2019s Department of Health and Human Services.<\/p>\n

\"A
(Lauren Woods\/UConn Health Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe Door to Door COVID-19 Vaccination and Education campaign is truly a unique opportunity for our health professions students to learn with and from each other as well as the skilled and approachable Community Health Workers, nurses and dedicated staff from partner agencies,\u201d says Petra Clark-Dufner, director of CT AHEC. \u201cSuccessful community-based training like today\u2019s program is the result of strong academic community partnerships that have the same goal \u2013 improving the health and wellness of all of CT\u2019s citizens and providing meaningful experiences for tomorrow\u2019s healthcare workforce.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next door-to-door vaccination event in Hartford is planned for the morning of Saturday, September 17.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The community initiative is a partnership of CT AHEC, based at UConn Health, with the City of Hartford Department of Health and Human Services, Harriott Home Health Services, and the Hispanic Health Council<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":189484,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1715,2213,1877,2193,2166,1868,1864,2235,179,2227,2234],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1873],"class_list":["post-189476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-impact","category-coronavirus","category-nur","category-hartford-county","category-sdm","category-meds","category-pharm","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-health","category-uconn-edu-homepage","category-university-life"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-02 18:43:55","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189476"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":189769,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189476\/revisions\/189769"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/189484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189476"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=189476"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=189476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}