When local COVID-19 cases began to climb in the Kingston region in December 2021, Oasis quickly realized that members of the program were finding it difficult to get their vaccine boosters. Members were citing a combination of lack of safe transportation, physical mobility issues, technical challenges, and anxiety related to leaving their homes as barriers to accessing the vaccine.
In response, the Queen's Oasis Research Team leveraged local partnerships with Providence Care, Kingston landlords and KFL&A Public Health to bring mobile COVID-19 vaccine clinics to older adults living in the community. These clinics were hugely successful - immunizing approximately 125 residents at four apartments that are part of the Oasis program, which supports older adults to continue to live independently.
These clinics are an example of how naturally occurring retirement communities (NORCs) can be leveraged to bring services to older adults where they live.
Queen's University Faculty of Health Sciences has covered the clinics in their feature stories: https://healthsci.queensu.ca/stories/feature/queens-mobile-vaccine-partnership-creates-oasis-kingston-seniors
