Sofina/Lillydale Foods, Harmony Beef, Cargill Foods, Cargill Case Ready
Mosaic Primary Care Network
University of Calgary
Vaccinate 2500 new immigrant meat plant employees
Problem
How to successfully provide vaccines to meat plant employees in a way that is trustworthy, culturally sensitive and efficient.
Solution
An onsite vaccine clinic, co-designed with the meat plant staff, to provide easy access and first language interpretation on vaccine information.
Impact
70-80% uptake of vaccine for both first and second dose clinics for all four meat plants.
Partners
Sofina/Lillydale Foods
Harmony Beef
Cargill Foods
Cargill Case Ready
Mosaic Primary Care Network
University of Calgary
Offerings
During the pandemic the new immigrant communities in Calgary were inordinately affected by COVID infections. New immigrants and foreign workers make up most of the essential workforce which includes warehouses, meat plants, food industry and continuing care centres.
Access to the vaccine was identified as the number one challenge for this workforce, so this project focused on getting vaccines onsite at the Calgary Zone meat plants. Additional factors such as low computer literacy, transportation challenges, limited English language proficiency and vaccine hesitancy were contributing factors leading to low vaccine uptake in this primarily newcomer community.
Service Design
Expertise
Co-creation
Service Blue Print
Prototyping
What we did
A small working group with representation from primary care, Alberta Health Services (the Design Lab), Alberta International Medical Graduate Association and meat plant operators was struck to design and deliver onsite vaccine clinics. This was a fast-paced project and clinics were designed in less than a week.
"Working with the Design Lab provided a wonderful opportunity to co-create a patient-centred culturally safe vaccination clinic that optimized the uptake of vaccine amongst vulnerable workers”
Jerrick Lo, Alberta International Medical Graduate
How we did it
Meat plant site visits were organized to assess the physical space and staffing requirements needed for each clinic. Modified hockey hub style vaccine clinics were determined to be the most efficient clinic model. The staff of these clinics were made up of Primary Care Network family doctors and nurses, meat plant staff, Alberta International Medical Graduates representatives and University of Calgary representatives.
We drew up service blueprints and designed a prototype. Each clinic was designed with five stations:
registration/administration
first language support
review “fit to immunize questions”
vaccine administration areas
recovery zone
All written documents were translated in Amharic, Arabic, Spanish, Tagalog, Punjabi and Tigrinya. Both meat plant workers and vaccine clinic staff were invited to fill out an evaluation survey led by the University of Calgary. These on site vaccine clinics were held in tents, hallways, ATCO trailers, office space or large education rooms (dependent on the meat plant).
"Lots of people ask about the difference between Pfizer and Moderna. Speaking Filipino today makes them feel comfortable – like we are at home”
Jerrick Lo, Alberta International Medical Graduate
Outcomes
We successfully supported the design and delivery of 8 vaccine clinics (first and second doses = total of 4912 doses) in four meat plants across the Calgary zone between April 28 and June 25, 2021. The clinics were patient-centred and culturally safe which led to a 70-80% uptake of the vaccine for all employees.
“Has been well done, with the support from the plant managers, this workplace is truly safe. I can work with peace of mind.”
Meat Plant Worker
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